Setting up a workers’ committee: the right to organize — and how to exercise it

Service page: Employment lawyer: dismissals, wages and severance pay.

Is the employer you work for opposed to setting up a committee? Is it threatening, carrying out surprise dismissals, or “talking directly” with employees to persuade them not to join? All of these are prohibited, some under the law and some under the case law. The right to organize is set out in the law, and the Labor Court enforces it.

The right to organize: a constitutional principle

The right to organize in a trade union is set out in sections 33H to 33K of the Collective Agreements Law, 5717-1957, which were added to it by the 5761 (2000–2001) amendment, and it is recognized in the case law of the National Labor Court as a fundamental right. It is a right the employer cannot take away.

In practice: employees who set up a committee act within an area that is protected against acts of retaliation by the employer. Dismissing an employee because of committee activity is a prohibited retaliatory dismissal, for which the court may award compensation and give an order, sometimes including reinstatement (sections 33J–33K).

How do you set up a workers’ committee?

There is no single formula, but these are the practical steps:

• Building support: you need to establish support among the employees. A trade union becomes representative when at least one third of the employees to whom the agreement will apply are its members, and it is the union with the largest number of members (section 3).
• Recognition by a trade union: joining one of the existing trade unions (the Histadrut (General Federation of Labor), Koach LaOvdim, sector organizations) strengthens the committee and gives it legal strength. The protection in the Law for membership and activity in a committee applies to a committee that acts within a trade union, and a committee is treated as such if the chairperson of the trade union, or someone on their behalf, gave written notice confirming this (section 33J(a)(4)).
• A formal announcement: written notice to the employer that the committee has been set up, and of the representatives who were elected.
• Running the committee properly: meetings, minutes, periodic elections. All of these strengthen its legitimacy.

How do you elect a workers’ committee? The Collective Agreements Law does not set an election procedure for a workers’ committee, so it is worth finding out in advance from the trade union within which the committee will act which rules apply to the elections. An employer shall not dismiss an employee or worsen their terms of employment because of their activity to set up a workers’ committee (section 33J(a)(5)), nor because of their membership or activity in a committee that acts within a trade union (section 33J(a)(4)). A claim for a breach can be filed by the employee or by the trade union (section 33L), with the Regional Labor Court (section 33K).

What is the employer prohibited from doing?

An employer may not:

• Dismiss an employee because of their committee activity.
• Harm the terms of employment of a committee activist as a “punishment”.
• Threaten, pressure or influence employees not to join the committee (according to the case law).
• Hold direct contacts with employees, bypassing the committee, on matters within the committee’s scope (according to the case law).

What can the committee do? A workers’ committee that acts within a trade union takes part in collective negotiations, receives information concerning the employees and represents them before the management. A representative of the trade union may enter the workplace to promote organizing (section 33I), and in an initial organizing drive the employer must negotiate with a representative trade union (section 33H1). Declaring a labor dispute and a strike are subject to the Settlement of Labor Disputes Law, 5717-1957 (חוק יישוב סכסוכי עבודה, התשי״ז-1957), including the duty to give at least fifteen days’ advance notice to the other side and to the Chief Labor Relations Officer (section 5A).

What happens when an employer breaches the rules?

Apply to the Regional Labor Court, which has exclusive jurisdiction in these matters (section 33K). The court may give a prohibitory injunction or a mandatory order, including ordering the reinstatement of an employee, and award compensation even without monetary damage, as well as exemplary damages of up to NIS 50,000, and up to NIS 200,000 taking into account the seriousness of the breach (base amounts that are updated on 1 January each year). The claim becomes time-barred within three years (section 33M).