Summary
Department of the government of Palestine created in 1942, on the recommendation of its first Labor Advisor R. M. Graves, charged with investigating labour conditions, preparing labour legislation and regulating trade unions; its officials devoted themselves largely to encouraging trade unions for Arab workers (Comrades and Enemies: Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906-1948, line 3347).
Details
- The government appointed its first Labor Advisor, R. M. Graves, in 1940. Graves’s recommendation that the government create a full-fledged Labor Department was accepted in 1942; a number of British, Arab and Jewish inspectors and subinspectors were appointed to staff it, signalling the government’s intention to play an active role in labour affairs. Since the Histadrut was already well established and powerful, Labor Department officials devoted themselves largely to the encouragement of trade unions for Arab workers (Comrades and Enemies: Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906-1948, line 3347).
- One of its British inspectors, H. E. Chudleigh, played a key role in 1942-43, urging and overseeing the establishment of Arab unions in many parts of Palestine (Comrades and Enemies: Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906-1948, line 3349).
- At the end of 1942 the Labor Department estimated the Federation of Arab Trade Unions and Labor Societies had some 1,000-1,500 members, against the Palestine Arab Workers Society’s countrywide about 5,000 and a dues-paying Palestine Labor League membership generously estimated at 500 (Comrades and Enemies: Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906-1948, line 3361).
- The English-language version of Abba Hushi’s April 1943 pamphlet on the PLL rebuked the government of Palestine for allegedly hindering closer Arab-Jewish relations — a veiled reference to the Labor Department’s encouragement of Arab unions and its disinterest in the PLL (Comrades and Enemies: Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906-1948, line 3377).
- On the railways, the standing staff committee General Manager Kirby established consisted of representatives of management, labour and the government’s Labor Department, and amounted to unofficial recognition of the workers’ unions (Comrades and Enemies: Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906-1948, line 3289).
- The Wagner factory dispute in Jaffa was submitted to Labor Department arbitration: its officials insisted the PAWS must also be a party, and British arbitrators granted many of the workers’ demands while refusing to endorse the PLL’s claim to represent the workers (Comrades and Enemies: Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906-1948, line 3489).
- After Labor Department mediation, the PLL-recruited workers at Jerusalem’s King David Hotel eventually secured a decent contract in early 1944 (Comrades and Enemies: Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906-1948, line 3503); Histadrut efforts to secure Labor Department intervention in the American Colony hotel strike of October 1944 were unsuccessful, dooming that strike (Comrades and Enemies: Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906-1948, line 3505).
- The February 1944 Haifa railway workshops strike ended with only a minor retirement-fund concession and a promise that the Labor Department would examine the workers’ grievances (Comrades and Enemies: Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906-1948, line 3517).
Related pages
Comrades and Enemies: Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906-1948, R. M. Graves, H. E. Chudleigh, Histadrut, Palestine Arab Workers Society, Palestine Labor League, February 1944 Haifa railway workshops strike