Organizing migrant care workers in Israel: Industrial citizenship and the trade union option

• Date: 01 March 2014
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1564-913X.2014.00198.x
• Published date: 01 March 2014
• Author: Guy MUNDLAK,Hila SHAMIR

International Labour Review, Vol. 153 (2014), No. 1

Copyright © The authors 2014

Journal compilation © International Labour Organization 2014

Organizing migrant care workers in Israel:

Industrial citizenship

and the trade union option

Guy MUNDLAK* and Hila SHAMIR**

Abstract. The authors examine the feasibility of trade unionism for migrant care

workers, based on a recent organizing drive in Israel. Distinguishing between trade

unions and other civil society organizations, they re-examine the concept of work-

ers’ collective action, looking at what constitutes a trade union and to what extent

unions can address the specic concerns of migrant care workers. They conclude

that, despite the numerous problems involved in organizing migrant care work-

ers, and the vulnerabilities intrinsic to migration processes, gendered work and the

occupation of care, trade unions play an important role in establishing industrial

citizenship and forming political agency.

Migrant care workers face numerous difculties in their work, which are

grouped around three axes of disadvantage: the intimate nature of their

work, the gendered dimension of care work, and the vulnerabilities that stem

from their migration status. Each of these alone may result in precarious em-

ployment, but the intersection of all three constitutes a unique source of vul-

nerability. Political and academic discussions on the importance of protecting

the rights of care workers have identied the need to supplement regulatory

provisions with organizational support that empowers care workers, gives them

a voice and continuously enhances the environment in which their work takes

place (ILO, 2010, pp. 90–91; Blackett, 200 4, pp. 256 –267). Trade unionism

would therefore appear to be an important and promising form of associ-

ation for care workers.

This article examines the feasibility of trade unionism for migrant care

workers, based on a case study of a union organizing drive currently taking

place in Israel. The article distinguishes between: trade unions, which repre-

sent workers’ interests and negotiate with employers to improve working con-

ditions; workers’ rights centres, which provide legal and administrative aid to

* Faculty of Law and Department of Labour Studies, Tel Aviv University, email: mundlak@

post.tau.ac.il. ** Faculty of Law, Tel Aviv University, email: hshamir@post.tau.ac.il.

Responsibility for opinions expressed in signed articles rests solely with their authors, and

publication does not constitute an endorsement by the ILO.

International Labour Review94

individual workers and lobby for policy change; and community organizations,

particularly those based on workers’ religious, national or regional afliations,

and those that seek to empower workers by creating leadership and building

a social community. In contrast to workers’ rights centres and community or-

ganizations, trade unions offer a form of industrial citizenship based on the

concepts of membership, political agency and direct participation. In order to

identify the feasibility – and value added – of trade unionism in the context

of migrant care work, the article considers the basic concept of workers’ col-

lective action, looking at what constitutes a trade union and to what extent

unions can meet the specic needs of migrant care workers.

The article is grouped into four sections. The rst provides the context

of the organizing drive described in the case study, looking at the following

four aspects: care work and migration in Israel; the regulatory framework

governing the employment of migrant care workers; the emergence of civil

society organizations supporting these workers; and the opportunities and

challenges of trade unions in general. The second section presents the case

study of the drive by the grassroots trade union Koach LaOvdim (Democratic

Workers’ Organization) to organize migrant care workers, which started in

2009. The case study is based on interviews conducted by the authors in 2011

with various actors who were involved in the efforts to set up the Koach

LaOvdim Caregivers’ Union.1 The third looks more generally at the poten-

tial role of trade unions and what they can offer migrant care workers. The

authors examine the lessons learned from the case study, and go on to look

at the more general problems that may apply to similar organizing drives.

Despite the numerous problems highlighted by the case study, the authors

argue that trade unions offer unique value added compared to workers’ rights

centres and community organizations, in that they give a political voice to

migrant care workers and thus contribute to the establishment of political

agency, despite the democratic decit that is intrinsic to migration processes,

and the multiple sources of vulnerability experienced by migrant care work-

ers. In the Israeli context, trade unionism has the potential to stimulate indi-

vidual and group capacity building and leadership, as well as empowerment

and political agency, thereby contributing signicantly to the existing web of

organizations that help lobby for, implement and translate norms and regu-

lations into effective entitlements. The fourth section presents the authors’

conclusions.

1 The individuals interviewed were: Yael Wolfenzon, Meital Regev, Noga Shafer and Ilai

Margalit, organizers of the Jerusalem branch of the Caregivers’ Union; Ophir Tubol, initiator of

the Caregivers’ Union; Boaz Urman, Daniel Dotan and Avigail Shaham, organizers of the Tel Aviv

branch of the Caregivers’ Union; Hana Zohar, director, Kav LaOved ( “Workers’ Hotline” NGO);

Hanni Ben Israel, lawyer at Workers’ Hotline; Idit Lebovich, coordinator, Workers’ Hotline care

workers’ section. In addition, the authors sat as observers at the meeting of the elected leaders of

the Jerusalem branch of the Caregivers’ Union. Further documentation was retrieved from the

Caregivers’ Union blog, which is available at: http://siod.workers.org.il/the-community-center-for-

workers-rights/ [accessed 15 December 2013].