At the end of 2010, Ofer Eini was at the height of his political and public strength. As a chairman of Histadrut, Israel's organization of trade unions, Eini was viewed as a pragmatic and responsible leader who avoided shutting down the economy with strikes.

Eini played a significant role in the entrance of then-Labor Party Chairman and former Defense Minister Ehud Barak into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s second government. He also had much influence on the coalition agreement signed between the sides. There were those, at the time, who even felt that Eini had what it takes to be prime minister, and if he so desired he could easily take over chairmanship of the Labor party. Eini regularly participated in meetings of the party’s ministers; his public statements, which sometimes deviated beyond work relations to diplomatic issues, aroused much interest in the media. With a direct channel to the prime minister and almost all the ministers, Eini became one of the most influential Histadrut heads ever.

Three years later, Eini is still chairman of the Histadrut — Israel’s largest labor organization, an association of about 800 thousand people — but he is much less relevant and influential. Eini no longer sets the agenda, and is unable to threaten a government that does not flinch at large strikes. In any of the important economic reforms, no one in the current government rushes to take his opinions into account. Recently, Eini is even losing ground on his home field — within the large employee committees. 

One example can serve to demonstrate how Eini’s influence has weakened among the decision-makers. At one time, any change in the Israeli economy — large or small — had to receive Eini’s approval first. Yet only a few days ago, that same Eini saw Netanyahu, Finance Minister Yair Lapid and Minister of Transport Israel Katz announce at a press conference that they would use all their might to advance the ports reform program, especially the establishment of two private ports in Haifa and Ashdod.