Summary
The stone quarry and limestone kiln near Haifa, established in 1929 and owned jointly by the Histadrut’s Contracting Office and the Arab businessman Tahir Qaraman, whose employment of Arabs and Jews at grossly unequal wages made it the site of the April 1935 strike that publicly exposed the contradiction in the Histadrut’s Hebrew labor position (Comrades and Enemies: Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906-1948, lines 2497-2506).
Details
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Even Vesid was unique in being jointly owned by the Histadrut’s Contracting Office and one of Haifa’s leading Arab businessmen, Tahir Qaraman; it employed Arabs and Jews in roughly equal numbers, but the fact that it employed any Arabs at all was embarrassing for the Histadrut, committed to Hebrew labor especially in its own enterprises (lines 2497-2506).
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Its Arab workers were paid 12 piastres a day, substandard and far below the 25 piastres a day its Jewish workers earned for more or less the same work (lines 2497-2506).
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In April 1935 some of its Arab workers struck for a minimum daily wage of 15 piastres, an eight-hour workday, a weekly day of rest and the removal of a disliked foreman; the Palestine Arab Workers Society quickly assumed leadership of the strike. The Histadrut denounced the strike as politically motivated, claimed the strikers were exploited by Hanna ‘Asfur and other Arab nationalist activists, and tried to keep the quarry operating with the Jewish workers and with Arab strikebreakers apparently recruited from among Palestine Labor League members; despite clashes with police and arrests the strikers held firm, and the Histadrut backed down and granted a wage increase (lines 2497-2506).
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David Hacohen responded to the question why the enterprise employed Arab workers at all that Even Vesid’s existence depended on Qaraman’s cooperation and its profitability required the use of cheap Arab labor — the relatively well-paid Jewish workers’ jobs depended on employing at least some poorly paid Arab workers. A Jewish quarry owner who employed only Jews complained to the “buy Jewish” campaign committee, demanding protection from Even Vesid’s competition because its use of Arab workers let it sell its products for less than Hebrew-labor quarries (lines 2497-2506).
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In Chapter 6 the quarry and limekiln, still jointly owned by the Histadrut and Tahir Qaraman, experienced only a few strike days during 1936, and the PLL supplied it with Arab workers deemed reliable (Comrades and Enemies: Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906-1948, lines 2975-2978). Chapter 6 note 12 records that after a guerrilla attack on workers at the quarry, Qaraman sent a telegram to Filastin (published June 23, 1937) claiming he had severed his connections with Even Vesid at the beginning of 1937; in fact, though he had sold a larger share to the Histadrut, he still remained a partner.
Related pages
Comrades and Enemies: Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906-1948, Histadrut, Palestine Arab Workers Society, Palestine Labor League, Hanna ‘Asfur, Hebrew Labour