Summary
Jewish-owned company which extracted potash and other mineral salts from the waters of the Dead Sea; its 1930 government concession required it to employ a “reasonable” proportion of Arab labor, which made its Arab workers a revealing test of the Hebrew Labour principle in 1944-45 (Comrades and Enemies: Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906-1948, Chapter 7 note 85, lines 3887-3889).
Details
- Company management had always resisted the principle of Hebrew labor, and the Histadrut, understanding the value of the enterprise to the economy of the Yishuv, had not pushed too hard; for years the Histadrut also refrained from any effort to organise the company’s Arab workers, so as to avoid compromising the principle of Hebrew labor by formally recognising the right of Arab workers to hold jobs at a Jewish-owned enterprise, and made little effort to ensure its Arab employees enjoyed the same wages and working conditions as its Jewish employees (Comrades and Enemies: Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906-1948, Chapter 7 note 85, lines 3887-3889).
- At the end of 1944, fears that the Palestine Arab Workers Society or another Arab labor organization might act first propelled the Histadrut to recruit the company’s Arab employees into the Palestine Labor League and demand their wages and conditions be improved, if not made equal to those of its Jewish workers (Comrades and Enemies: Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906-1948, Chapter 7 note 85, line 3889).
- Management resisted the PLL’s demands and fired some of those who had joined; the Histadrut, facing the prospect of having to fight a Jewish employer to rehire Arab workers instead of to dismiss them, ultimately demanded not rehiring but only compensation for losing their jobs; the effort failed, and the Arab potash workers were eventually recruited by two rival Arab labor organizations (Comrades and Enemies: Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906-1948, Chapter 7 note 85, line 3889).
Related pages
Comrades and Enemies: Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906-1948, Histadrut, Palestine Labor League, Hebrew Labour, Palestine Arab Workers Society