The meeting is open to all trades unionists in the Bristol area who would like to meet and make links with an Israeli organisation which is working with Jewish and Arab workers in unity and as equals.

Swindon TUC is helping to organise the visit of the Israeli Workers Advice Centre to Britain. The delegation will arrive on March 11th and return late on March 17th. The purpose of the visit is to provide the opportunity for WAC to meet with Trades Unions and union activists, and to acquaint them with the work it is carrying out in organising workers, and to develop fraternal links with unions here. The delegation will comprise Assaf Adiv (National Coordinator), Khitam Na’amneh (Women Workers Organiser) and Roni Ben Efrat (International Relations).

The delegation will be meeting with the FBU and the RMT, the TUC’s International Officer, and the Chair of the NUJ’s policy committee. A meeting has also been arranged with union international officers and members of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s Trade Union Advisory Committee. They will be meeting some MPs at the House of Commons. Public meetings are being organised in Oxford (March 14th) and Bristol (March 15th), hosted by Oxford TUC and Bristol RMT (details to follow). The delegation will be visiting the Swindon GMB office to learn about the work of the union in organising migrant workers.

The organisations sponsoring the visit include the FBU, RMT, Bridgwater TUC, Swindon TUC, Oxford TUC, Bristol RMT, Waterloo RMT, and Wiltshire & Swindon GMB

WAC, as the name suggests, originated as an advice and support centre, mainly (though not exclusively) for Arab Israeli citizens, who constitute an oppressed minority within the Israeli state. However, this activity led to WAC having to address collective issues, especially in relation to employment.

WAC’s activities have included the campaign, ‘A Job to Win’, which aimed to get Arab Israelis back into the construction industry. Many thousands of them had been replaced by cheap, terribly exploited foreign workers. WAC had to challenge the common prejudice that Arabs were lazy and did not want to work. It succeeded in finding around 1,000 people jobs at union rates, with full social benefits.

WAC is involved in campaigning for jobs in agriculture, a sector where super-exploited migrant labour has tended to be used. It has organised women workers in particular.

In early 2006 WAC launched Wisconsin-Watch. It helps people affected by the Wisconsin programme (borrowed from the US) which forced the unemployed to work for their benefit. WAC exposes the nature of Wisconsin and opposes privatisation of public services for the unemployed.

WAC employs legal advisers and attorney on a pro bono basis to provide services to its members.

WAC has been assisting in the struggle of unorganised workers in Israel’s Educational TV. Although they do the same job as regular workers, they were employed as ‘freelancers’ and then fired to avoid awarding them tenure and basic social benefits.

It collaborates with other workers’ initatives and NGO’s in struggle against exploitation of migrants, against the Wisconsin plan and privatisation. It takes part in coalitions of social organisations for workers’ rights, such as Kav Laoved, Hotline for Migrant Workers and Tel Aviv’s legal clinics to protect the rights of workers. It also participates in the Coalition of Organisations against the Wisconsin Plan.

One of the important things about WAC, in the circumstances in which it operates, is that it comprises Jews and Arabs working together as equals. It strives for a working class perspective in a part of the world where the conflict is supposed to be one between Jews and Arabs.

WAC has fraternal relations with the PGFTU (the Palestine trade union federation based in the occupied territories). The PGFTU supported WAC when the Israeli state attempted to close it down.

Publications wishing to arrange interviews with the WAC delegation should ring Martin Wicks on 07786 394593 or email Swindon TUC at: swindontuc@btinternet.com .

You can visit the WAC website at: http://www.workersadvicecenter.org

You can contact WAC National Coordinator Assaf Adiv directly at: assafa@maan.org.il