3.1 Israel’s“Unlikely Unionists” Organising white collar workers in the ICT sector Histradut’s efforts to organise tech workers shows that even highly-skilled, well-paid, in-demand workers cannot avoid the impact of digital disruption – and that even the most un­likely groups of workers can be unionised. By Joel Schalit 1 These days, Israel is world-renowned for its information and commu­nications technology(ICT) sector. Not just any technology, but mo­bile applications – such as Google’s ubiquitous navigation tool Waze, and the popular messaging app Viber – as well as fintech and securi­ty software. It never used to be that way. Until the early 2000s, the only industries Israel was associated with were agriculture, defense and diamond cutting. Heavy state investment in the defence and security industries laid the foundations for breakthroughs in the civilian ICT sector. Israel De­fence Forces famed signal intelligence arm, Unit 8200, in particular, is credited with incubating the high-tech explosion. Today, more Israeli companies are listed on the NASDAQ than any other European country, and nearly all of them are technology ven­tures. Their predominance reflects the economic importance at­tached to the tech sector by the government: Israel spends approxi­1 Joel Schalit is an Israeli journalist based in Berlin. He is the editor of The Battleground and author of Israel vs Utopia(Akashic). 36 Tech Workers Unionise