News

Education, e-learning, membership recruitment and benefits were key subjects on the agenda of a meeting of P&MS/IBITS members and the Practical Engineers’ and Technicians Union in Tel Aviv. The UNI group led by Christer Forslund, P&MS World President, of Unionen, Sweden, was impressed by the professionalism of the host union and the broad range of activities they are engaged in.

The UNI delegation included representatives of engineers and technicians unions from Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

Shlomo Shani, President of the Practical Engineers Union introduced the institutions and professional activities of the union, which span from collective bargaining over training funds, extensive membership benefits through a consumer club, to professional education at their own college, a technological and engineering education center for 600 students.

David Lubelchick, Director General of the education center explained that his institute focuses on IT and computer science, electronic communication, manufacturing management and medical technology. The curricula have a strong orientation towards practical skills, entrepreneurship and encourage students to engage in projects that result in patents and business models. Often students leaving the college set up their own companies. He also said that although there is a strong support for research and technology in Israel, almost 5% of GDP is spent of R&D, it is increasingly difficult to attract students into engineering and technology, most of the young generation preferred law, accounting and business management.

The consumer club was introduced by Yuri Mark, who said that they had contracts with almost 5’000 companies where their members would get discounts on purchases. The products range from electronics, multimedia, cable TV, mobile phones over food, restaurants, books, to cars, apartments and even houses. Mark said that the consumer club was very popular among members and that the savings on consumer goods, cars and apartments in particular by far outstripped the salary increases through collective bargaining.

Avital Shapira-Shabirov, Director of International Affairs at the trade union confederation Histadrut said the relation and cooperation with the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) had remarkably improved over recent years and both would actively support the peace process. Key achievements of Histadrut over the recent past were a pension pact that provides old age security for over 1 million workers, a High Court decision following Histradut’s plea to apply Israely labour law to Palestinian workers in the settlements, and an innovative agreement on employees’ privacy regarding the use of computers at work.

Shlomo Perlove, Chairmen of the Business Sector Department of the Practical Engineers’ Union, emphasised the union’s desire to closer cooperate with UNI P&MS and IBITS in the future. It was agreed that areas for collaboration such as e-learning, professional recognition, organising, exchange of students and trade union officers and support for mobile professionals through the UNI passport program should be elaborated. A closer cooperation with the consumer club will also be considered.

The UNI P&MS delegation also visited the Knesset in Jerusalem, where they had the opportunity to discuss with a member of the Parliament about labour issues and the peace process. The delegation further visited the new Holocaust museum Yad Vashem and the old town of Jerusalem.

UNI P&MS delegation at Knesset

At the Technological and Engineering Center