those pesky unions bringing the country to its knees

thanks to Gene at Harry's Place for bringing this to my attention, from TULIP (nothing to do with Calvinism but the newsletter of Trade Unions Linking Israel and Palestine - a good thing, hein?).  The Histadrut, the Israeli trade union federation, has begun organising foreign workers in Israel.  Many of these are Chinese workers, who at home are only allowed to belong to state unions, and they are signing up in their droves.  The Histadrut is independent and very often clashes with the Israeli government.