There aren’t as many reports of Palestinian workers going on strike as there are in Israel - in part because of the weakness of the Palestinian economy, and in part because independent trade unions are not tolerated by the Hamas government in Gaza. Nevertheless, from time to time there are strikes in the West Bank, as we reported earlier this week when UNRWA workers called a day of action.

The global union federation IndustriALL reported last week on another Palestinian strike, this time involving shoe and leather workers in Nablus. One paragraph in the IndustriALL report gives a clue just how dire things have become for these workers:

“In the past the company used to employ 750 workers but due to a free trade agreement production became dependent on the imported material from China, resulting in downsizing of the workforce to 45 people.”

To read the full report from IndustriALL, click here.