Koah LaOvdim|
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| Founded | 2007 (2007) |
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| Members | 19,000 (2024) |
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| Website | workers.org.il |
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Koah LaOvdim (Hebrew: כוח לעובדים, lit. 'Power to the Workers') is an Israeli labor union organization founded in 2007 (and registered in 2008) as an initiative by a group of social and labor activists to create a new, active and militant general labor union in Israel.[1] The organization was established as a result of several failed labor struggles and unionization attempts in Israel in the preceding years, primarily that of the temporary labourers in the Ben Gurion International Airport in 2006.[2]
In the years since its establishment, Koah LaOvdim have increased its numbers substantially and by 2017 it became Israel's third largest labor union with around 35,000 workers represented by the organization.[3] The organization's establishment is often credited with initiating the "unionization boom" of the late 2000s in Israel.[3]
The union's political position is on the left, with their stated aims being:
- To assist unorganized workers in getting organized in their workplace both in the public and the private sector.
- To promote the existence of organized labor in the Israeli economy.
- To wage an uncompromising struggle in the defense of workers’ rights and the improvement of their pay and working conditions.
- To work for the establishment of social and economic justice, a welfare state and industrial democracy.[1]
Koah LaOvdim is a multi-national, trans-ethnic and cross-sectional organization, unionizing workers from all sectors of Israeli society, with equality and solidarity between Jews and Arabs being one of the organization's core beliefs,[4] and the organization have worked against racist incidents against Arab workers in Israel.[5] Koah LaOvdim is also a proponent of feminism and gender equality in the workforce, and it maintains a feminist section "Koah LaOvdot".[6]
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