An article explaining what collective agreements (general and special) and extension orders are, how employees organise, and how these agreements affect employee rights across the economy.
In this article I will explain, in brief, what collective agreements and extension orders are.
Let me note at the outset that the world of collective labour relations is vast, and I certainly do not claim, within this short article, to cover all — or even most — of the issues involved.
There are two types of collective agreement:
A general collective agreement — an agreement signed between an employees’ organisation and an employers’ organisation, which applies to all employers who are members of that organisation or that sector. For example: an agreement between the Histadrut (an employees’ organisation) and the Manufacturers’ Association (an employers’ organisation).
A special collective agreement — a collective agreement signed between an employees’ organisation (such as the Histadrut) and a specific employer, which applies only at that employer.
A collective agreement may apply to all employees at the workplace or to some of them. Usually a collective agreement contains an application clause that clarifies exactly to whom it applies.
The matters covered by a collective agreement include hiring and dismissal, working conditions, wages and benefits, discipline, arrangements for disputes, and more.
There are a number of conditions for recognising the validity of a collective agreement. Sometimes there are agreements that do not meet all the conditions. These are called a “collective arrangement”; they still bind the parties, but their force is weaker than that of a collective agreement.
How is a collective agreement reached?
In practice, when employees decide to organise and conduct collective bargaining over their working conditions with the aim of signing a collective agreement, they approach one of the employees’ organisations (the Histadrut, Koach LaOvdim, and others) and begin collecting membership forms.
A representative employees’ organisation is the employees’ organisation that at least one third of the employees to whom the agreement will apply have joined.
In its precedent-setting — some would say revolutionary — ruling in the Pelephone case [Labour Court Case 25476-09-12, dated 2 January 2013], the National Labour Court accepted a claim filed by the Histadrut against Pelephone and held that an employer may not act against an initial organising effort by its employees, directly or indirectly; it may not offer benefits to employees so that they will not organise, and it is even prohibited from expressing any opinion regarding the organising effort. The Supreme Court, sitting as the High Court of Justice, upheld the National Labour Court’s ruling in the Pelephone case (HCJ 4179/13, dated 7 July 2014).
Once a collective agreement is signed with the representative organisation, it applies to all employees, including those who did not wish to join the representative organisation, and they will all pay membership dues to the employees’ organisation.
On the website of the Ministry of Labour and Social Services, collective agreements can be searched by employer, employees’ organisation and other parameters. Link to the “Collective Labour Agreement Search” page — https://workagreements.labor.gov.il/
Usually, the representative employees’ organisation itself will not handle the day-to-day matters at the workplace after the collective agreement is signed. Instead, a workers’ committee — the employees’ representation at the workplace itself, established under the workers’ committee regulations — will in practice be responsible for implementing the provisions of the collective agreement, of course with the support of the employees’ organisation.
Ostensibly, the world of collective agreements concerns only organised workplaces — meaning workplaces where an employees’ organisation and a collective agreement exist. But as I will explain below, some of the collective agreements in the economy affect all employees. This is done through extension orders issued by the Minister of Labour (under their various titles, depending on the government in office at the time). Through an extension order, the Minister of Labour “extends” the provisions of a particular collective agreement and applies them to all or part of the economy.
Once an extension order has been issued, there is an obligation to comply with its provisions.
In fact, a large part of the employee rights we are familiar with are the product of extension orders: recuperation pay, travel allowances, holiday pay, pension contributions, the shortening of the working week across the economy, and more.
As noted above, the field of collective labour relations is a world unto itself, and of course I have not touched on all the issues in this short article; rather, I have chosen to focus on the basic information only.
The above is general information only and does not constitute legal advice; each case is examined on its own merits.
