On Wednesday, at the request of MK Eitan Cabel (Labor), the Supreme Court issued an injunction staying the decision of a district court, which allowed the Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) chairman to be elected by the Histadrut Legislative Assembly, rather than by a general election of all of the union's members.
Supreme Court Judge Elyakim Rubinstein ruled that the hearing on Cabel's appeal will be held no later than mid-February, and that no elections will be held beforehand.
The decision means that Histadrut Trade Unions Division chairman Avi Nissenkorn, who is slated to succeed outgoing Histadrut chairman Ofer Eini, will have to wait.
"After reviewing the appeal and the response, I believe that the importance of the Histadrut in the public realm necessitates the reduction of lack of instructions regarding the election of a new chairman as much as possible, by a hearing on the appeal soon," wrote Rubinstein.
Cabel claims that although the Histadrut constitution stipulates that members of the Histadut Legislative Assembly has the right to elect the Histadrut chairman if he resigns before the end of his term, this is unreasonable in the case of Eini, who is resigning three years before the end of his term.
Cabel adds that Histadrut elections use a two ballot system: one for the union's chairman and the second for the Legislative Assembly. He says that it is unacceptable that the elected officials from one list should have the right to elect the Histadrut chairman, who is supposed to be directly elected.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 23, 2014
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