Supreme Court protects organized labor in Israel

Jan 16, 2023

A second class action lawsuit by the Kohelet Policy Forum against the Histadrut was rejected today (Monday) by the Supreme Court after the Kohelet Policy Forum accepted the judges’ recommendation and deleted the appeal regarding the collection of membership fees and treatment fees.

Adv. Yehiel Shamir – Chief Legal Counsel of the Histadrut

In July 2020, the Supreme Court upheld the district court’s decision that outright rejected a similar claim by the Kohelet Policy Forum against the Histadrut for NIS 4.7 billion. In the previous ruling, the court determined that the relationship between an employee and a labor organization is a special relationship by virtue of the labor legislation, the purpose of which is to fulfill the right of association and to reduce disparities with the employers. Also, it was determined at the time that this was not a “consumer” relationship, as the Kohelet Policy Forum wanted to claim. After the rejection of the previous claim, the Kohelet Policy Forum filed a similar lawsuit, this time against the Histadrut as an “authority” for NIS 1.35 billion, a claim that, as mentioned, was also rejected this time.

The Supreme Court’s verdict today accepted the claims of the Histadrut, according to which the purpose of the membership fees and the care collected are for the benefit of the members of the Histadrut and the employees. The court accepted the argument that the Histadrut is an independent corporation and not an authority.

The verdict in the case was received by a panel of three judges: Anat Baron, David Mintz, and Khaled Kabob.

The Histadrut was represented by the Chief Legal Counsel of the Histadrut, Adv. Yehiel Shamir: “I welcome the verdict. It is good that the court prevented the Kohelet Policy Forum from making improper use of the tool of a class action intended to help the group members and not harm them.”

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