Israel - SodaStream refuses to bargain

Since November 2016 SodaStream, the manufacturing company best known as the maker of the consumer home carbonation product, has been dismissing all requests by the General Confederation of Labour in Israel (Histadrut) to engage in the negotiations of a collective agreement. Despite the fact that Histadrut has been recognised as the representative organisation in the company, the management circumvents collective bargaining and approaches workers directly. Employers’ refusal to negotiate is not uncommon in Israel. The management of Ness Technologies, an IT services company, has been intentionally postponing negotiations throughout 2017 in order to discourage and dilute organising in the workplace.