Avi Nissenkorn (47) has been elected Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) chairman by the union's 171-member Legislative Assembly. The election was at the heart of a legal dispute by MK Eitan Cabel (Labor), who had previously run against Histadrut chairman Ofer Eini, and considered himself a candidate as his successor. Cabel argued that the Histadrut chairman should be elected in a general election by all union members, and not just by the Legislative Assembly.
The case reached the Supreme Court, after the Tel Aviv District Court dismissed Cabel's motion. A panel of three Supreme Court judges upheld the lower court's ruling, and that the court should not intervene in internal elections, but Cabel appealed the ruling before a seven-judge panel.
President of the Supreme Court Asher Grunis did not dismiss the appeal out of hand, and delayed the Histadrut elections process by several months, until ultimately ruling that there were no grounds for appointing an expanded panel of judges.
The Histadrut Legislative Assembly elections are by a show of hands, not by secret ballot. No one ran against Nissenkorn.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 20, 2014
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