Summary
The cement factory established near Haifa in 1924-25 by Michael Pollack, site of two contrasting 1924-25 struggles — a joint Jewish-Egyptian construction strike abandoned by the Histadrut, and a Histadrut strike to displace Arab quarry workers under Hebrew Labour that failed (Comrades and Enemies: Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906-1948, lines 956-968).
Details
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Pollack, born in Russian-ruled Georgia, had made a fortune in Baku oil and fled Russia after the revolution, settling in Paris. The factory stood near the Arab village of Yajur on Mount Carmel’s eastern slopes; Yajur’s lands had been sold by the Ottoman government in 1872 to the Sursuq brothers and Salim al-Khuri and later to Zionist land-acquisition institutions, the Jewish settlement of Yagur was established on part of them in 1922, and the factory itself seems to have been located on land traditionally belonging to the nearby village of Balad al-Shaykh; a Jewish settlement named Nesher was established nearby in 1925 (line 956; Chapter 2 note 33).
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Construction employed 200 Jewish workers supplied by the Histadrut at 20 piastres for an eight-hour day and 80 Egyptian workers brought by a local Arab contractor at 10 piastres for a nine- or ten-hour day, a typical mandate differential (line 958).
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In the 1924 construction strike the Jewish workers sought Egyptian support against Histadrut officials’ wishes, the Egyptians joined, and after two months an agreement won some Jewish demands but said nothing about the Egyptians; the Jewish workers voted 170 to 30 not to return unless the Egyptians were also rehired, the Histadrut pressured them back regardless, and most Egyptians were deported (line 962).
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After production began in 1925 only Jews were production workers, but the quarry contract went to the Palestinian contractor Musbah al-Shaqifi employing Egyptians; Pollack resisted Histadrut pressure to replace them, and the Histadrut’s strike against “coolie” labor failed — quarry work remained Arab until the 1936-39 revolt, Egyptians gradually replaced by Palestinians from the vicinity (line 964).
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Lockman notes the sources’ gaps: the official Histadrut account of Nesher omits that the 1925 strike’s purpose was to prevent contracted Egyptian labour, while Ze’ev Studni’s account omits the second strike altogether (Chapter 2 note 34).
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In Chapter 5, the factory itself remained Palestine’s only producer of Portland cement, with Hebrew labor strictly observed (Jewish workers earning 30 to 35 piastres for an eight-hour day), while the quarry concession remained with Musbah al-Shaqifi, whose Arab workers by the early 1930s were recruited mainly from area villages (lines 2377-2394).
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The September-October 1932 quarry strike (some 150 workers; demands a nine-hour day, 15 piastres and closing of the contractor’s store) won, with Histadrut support, a nine-hour day, 12.5 piastres rising to a promised 15, and freedom from the company store, forming a Histadrut-allied organisation of some 140 quarry workers; the April-May 1933 lockout of the 130 Palestine Labor League workers and the ensuing arbitration left the PLL unrecognised, and al-Shaqifi’s harassment and firings, with Palestine Arab Workers Society pressure, destroyed the PLL’s quarry organisation within months (lines 2377-2405).
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The PAWS-led quarry strikes of January-March 1936 (325 workers; 16 piastres, an eight-hour day, abolition of heavy fines, the right to live with their families) ended inconclusively; Lockman notes the April 1936 general strike would finally make possible the Histadrut’s long-standing goal of Hebrew labor at the quarry, as at Haifa harbour (lines 2395-2405).
Related pages
Comrades and Enemies: Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906-1948, Haifa, Histadrut, Hebrew Labour, Balad al-Shaykh, Joint Organization, Musbah al-Shaqifi, Palestine Labor League