First Collective Agreement for an international branch of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation

A groundbreaking collective agreement was signed at the Histadrut between the management of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, the Histadrut, and the foundation’s workers committee. After a long and strenuous process of organizing employees in the foundation’s office in Israel, we are proud that their Israeli branch is the German foundation’s first overseas branch to unionize.

Main points of the agreement include improved conditions and payments for dismissal due to unsuitability, layoffs due to organizational changes, and a longer ‘notice period’ agreed to be six weeks. It also includes new settlements of salary supplements that were not previously regulated.

In addition, the agreement improved social conditions, including annual vacation days and sick leave payments set from the first day. Until the signing of the agreement, the foundation’s employees in Israel, like the rest of the branches worldwide, were signed on individual contracts and operated independently vis-à-vis the management.

The Friedrich Ebert Foundation is a non-profit organization and the oldest political foundation in Germany. The foundation combines local and international think tanks, and its values are based on the fundamental values of social democracy, including freedom, justice, and solidarity, promoting democracy and political education, and striving for a free society that allows equal opportunities in all areas.

The agreement was reached after a long period of hard work. The employees, who first organized in 2019, worked together with the Histadrut to reach a collective agreement, but due to the Corona pandemic, the negotiations were stopped and resumed in 2022. Since the foundation is funded by the German government and managed by the foundation’s management, the German Finance Ministry, and the German Chamber of Commerce, approval of the agreement was required from the three different bodies, which testifies to the complexity and difficulty of the negotiation process.

The director of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Israel, Dr. Ralf Melzer said: “The Friedrich Ebert Foundation supports trade union partners worldwide in organizing processes, and collective agreements are an important tool for ensuring workers’ rights. It goes without saying that this also applies to us internally. Therefore, I am happy and proud that we have successfully concluded a collective agreement at the Friedrich Ebert Foundation Israel.”

The agreement was successfully negotiated by the Tel Aviv district of the Histadrut and the Histadrut’s UCAPSE union. our current office manager, Dr. Ralph Meltzer, for his cooperation.