Who We Are

The Histadrut operates out of a vision based on the principles of equality and social justice, solidarity, and mutual guarantee. The Histadrut works for the benefit of all workers and retirees in Israel.

Vision, Mission and Impact

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Workers Rights

The Histadrut works together with our affiliates to negotiate and enforce collective agreements with the government, employer organizations, and management that guarantee the worker a voice in the workplace, decent wages, job security, better benefits, and safer workplaces.

Strengthening Organized Work in Israel

Collective agreements and workers' organizations bring about a better, fairer, and healthier balance for workers, employers, and the economy. The Histadrut as the home of all workers in Israel works to improve the status of the working man and woman, particularly the situation of the exploited workers, by strengthening organized work and signing collective agreements for the benefit of all Israeli society.

Inclusion

Every man and woman deserves the same treatment in the world of employment. Employees should be selected and measured by their personal and professional abilities, and not by any other parameter - whether it is age, disability, gender, religion or sexual orientation.

Equality

We at the Histadrut believe that equality of opportunity at work not only creates a more diverse work environment - but also makes our society fairer, more open and more egalitarian. The Histadrut, as the home of the workers in Israel, places emphasis, through a variety of measures, on ensuring that equality remains not just a statement, but is realized on the ground. Whether through responding and backing those who felt discriminated against, by encouraging employers to human diversity, by integrating people with disabilities into the employment market and more.

Workers Rights

The Histadrut works together with our affiliates to negotiate and enforce collective agreements with the government, employer organizations, and management that guarantee the worker a voice in the workplace, decent wages, job security, better benefits, and safer workplaces.

Strengthening Organized Work in Israel

Collective agreements and workers' organizations bring about a better, fairer, and healthier balance for workers, employers, and the economy. The Histadrut as the home of all workers in Israel works to improve the status of the working man and woman, particularly the situation of the exploited workers, by strengthening organized work and signing collective agreements for the benefit of all Israeli society.

Inclusion

Every man and woman deserves the same treatment in the world of employment. Employees should be selected and measured by their personal and professional abilities, and not by any other parameter - whether it is age, disability, gender, religion or sexual orientation.

Equality

We at the Histadrut believe that equality of opportunity at work not only creates a more diverse work environment - but also makes our society fairer, more open and more egalitarian. The Histadrut, as the home of the workers in Israel, places emphasis, through a variety of measures, on ensuring that equality remains not just a statement, but is realized on the ground. Whether through responding and backing those who felt discriminated against, by encouraging employers to human diversity, by integrating people with disabilities into the employment market and more.

History of Histadrut

The General Federation of Labour in the Land of Israel

The circumstances leading to the creation of the Histadrut and the guiding principles of its founding fathers make Histadrut a unique case in the world of trade unions. Its formative years still bear significant influence on the organization in present days. Founded under the title ‘The General Federation of Labour in the Land of Israel’ in 1920, 28 years before the state of Israel, Histadrut was conceived by David Ben-Gurion as an instrument to achieve two goals. The first task was class-oriented, with the Histadrut as a service giver for all the needs of the working class. The second task was much broader than traditional trade unionism, a significant role in nation-building, laying the state administration’s foundations to develop.
In its formative years, the Histadrut was the driving force behind the establishment of the State of Israel. The Histadrut founded and established economic, financial, cultural, sports, and industrial institutions that would enable the new state to emerge. Bank Hapoalim literally means the workers’ bank, the office of public works and building, the Solel Boneh construction company, the Kupat Holim Clalit, the largest health care provider in Israel, and many other institutions all arose from the early years of the Histadrut.

In June 2021, on the occasion of the centenary of the establishment of the Histadrut, the Federation produced a documentary broadcasted on national television called “The Red Book”.

Chairman

Arnon Bar-David

The Chairman of the Histadrut, Arnon Bar-David, assumed the position of Chairman of the Histadrut, following a House of Representatives extraordinary election in March 2019, following the early departure of the former Chairman, Avi Nissenkorn.

Bar-David was reelected in May 2022 in national Histadrut elections.

Bar-David is the 15th chairman of the Histadrut, and in recent decades he has played a leading role in managing social struggles and promoting the status of organized labor in Israel.

From 2006-2019, he served as Chairman of the UCAPSE (Union of Clerical and Public Service Employees), the largest trade union affiliated with the Histadrut. During this time, UCAPSE achieved groundbreaking collective bargaining agreements that led to a significant improvement in the employment conditions of hundreds of thousands of workers in the country.

Previously, Bar-David served for more than a decade as the chairman of the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipal Workers’ Committee. After assuming his position, in his first speech, he emphasized: “We will continue to work for the disadvantaged, for the unheard voices of the minorities, for promoting gender equality in the workplaces and for breaking the glass ceilings. We will work to reduce the gaps in society, to care for pensioners whose pension has been degraded, to care for the elderly, to take care of the working mothers and employees in general.”

Bar-David, born in 1957, married to Hila, father of six and grandfather of seven, lives in Kiryat Ono.

Arnon Bar-David is an Israel Defense Forces Major in the Reserve and served in the past as a Scout Leader and a Department Director in the Education Administration of the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality.

Former Chairman of Histadrut

  • 1921-1935 – David Ben-Gurion
  • 1935-1944 – David Remez
  • 1944-1949 – Yosef Shprinzak
  • 1949-1950 – Pinhas Lavon
  • 1950-1956 – Mordechai Namir
  • 1956-1961 – Pinhas Lavon
  • 1962-1969 – Aharon Becker
  • 1969-1973 – Yitzhak Ben-Aharon
  • 1973-1984 – Yeruham Meshel
  • 1984-1992 – Yisrael Kessar
  • 1992-1994 – Haim Haberfeld
  • 1994-1995 – Haim Ramon
  • 1995-2006 – Amir Peretz
  • 2006-2014 – Ofer Eini
  • 2014-2019 – Avi Nissenkoren