The demonstration yesterday in Haifa.
If the previous measures were directed against companies that raise prices, the address of the protest this time is the government (photo: Histadrut spokespersons)
"We started a chain of demonstrations, today in Haifa, tomorrow it will be in Ashdod and then all over the country. I think the time has come that the citizens of the State of Israel and the workers together, we will go out into the streets and protest against the cost of living. We need to understand that many families do not make it through the month, that the cost of living Every line has been crossed here and no one has put this issue on the agenda.
We see the government now being formed before our eyes and no one is talking about this issue, everyone is busy with cases and I am no longer sitting quietly, I already raised this six months ago against The importing companies and today I am currently raising the issue of the cost of living so that in the end, we will all unite to fight the cost of living, all of us - and one hour earlier is fine."
There was a protest in 2011 and it failed because it had no goals and was not managed, what are the goals of your protest?
"It is found in housing prices, it is found in education that is becoming more expensive, it is found in dormitories that are not available to everyone, it is found in things that the government can influence. The public, it is very difficult to get them to the streets: everyone is talking, everyone is sitting in parliament on Fridays and everyone is crying, but when you take them out to the streets they very, very difficult.
That's why I took on a difficult task here, to stir it up, so that the voice of the really weak people in the State of Israel can be heard here, which also hurts them because those who don't finish the month and then don't finish the month again, then another That's how he enters the cycle of poverty. There are also elderly and pensioners here who we realize with each passing month, that the prices go up and their allowances don't go up, they enter even more into the cycle of lack of money and the cycle of poverty and someone has to pick up this gauntlet."
Why don't you raise the gauntlet against the business companies?
Why the government?
"First of all, we are against these companies, a few months ago I came out against these companies, against importers, there are processes of price increases. If they increase by two percent or one percent, it can still be tolerated, but if they increase a product here by 20 percent, then of course That we will go against the company and you will know that the protest we did six months ago helped."
"We are there, we are in the streets, today many people came out in Haifa and demonstrated, and tomorrow in Ashdod, I hope there will already be thousands and little by little we will bring the issue of the cost of living into the mainstream discourse, because it is impossible for everything to be conducted on chairs and not on treatment of the cost of living."
Histadrut chairman Arnon Bar David promises to continue the struggle, hopes to sway the public (photo: Histadrut spokespersons)
The protest: even at the cost of confrontation with committees
Bar-David also referred to what is seen by many as the Achilles' heel of the settlement in the fight against importers or manufacturers who raise prices, their relationship with the workers' committees of those companies.
Did the workers' unions of these companies also participate in the boycott?
"Last time I came out against Kimberly - and Kimberly is a committee that I know and 800 people left the Histadrut. I have to go the right way here and go smart here, it's not easy, on the one hand there are the companies and on the other hand there are also the workers' councils and the workers' councils' representation I am currently against both the companies and the state, and I am appealing to the citizens who got out of their chairs and came out of the streets."
"Well, what's going on? If I'm active, you ask me why I'm active, and if I'm not active, then ask me why you're not doing anything. I think now is the time for me and I listen to the people, I visit workplaces, I visit almost everywhere in the State of Israel every Time. I hear the people saying, 'Arnon, don't give up on them, don't stop. Although there are elections and all kinds of matters, but don't give up, keep being here for us,' and I will continue to be here for all the weak."
You said you entered into a fight with Kimberly and 800 workers left the Histadrut because of that?
"Yes, it just proves that the protest is a real protest and that the previous moves I made were the right moves. They were also moves in which I took a risk."
The interview with the chairman of the Histadrut was broadcast on the "Where's the Money" program on Radio 103
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