Koah LaOvdim

Koah LaOvdim (Hebrew: כוח לעובדים‎, lit. 'Power to the Workers') is an Israeli labor union organization founded on 30 May 2007 (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]

Koah LaOvdim differed from other Israeli labor unions of its time by having a democratic internal organization and by the fact it was actively establishing new union branches.

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, transethnic 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]