A new General Federation of Palestinian Labour Unions was established in 1973, due in large part to the efforts of the Communist Party, but it was not particularly successful and split into rival factions in 1981.

[8][9] A movement toward unity began in 1990, as federations aligned with the Palestinian People's Party (formerly Communists) and Popular Front merged with the Fatah-aligned group.

Shaher Saed, described as the federation's General Secretary, complained that the problem of finding employment for these workers was compounded by the growing number of Palestinians who had lost their jobs to recent immigrants from the Soviet Union to Israel.

[11] When the Gulf War began in January 1991, Sa'ad complained that many Palestinian workers were unable to purchase food due to Israeli curfews that prevented them from reaching their workplaces.

[12] Saed endorsed the Oslo Peace Process in 1993, and sent a public letter condemning violence and terror to Haim Haberfield, secretary-general of the Israeli Histadrut.

[13] The return of the exiled Palestinian leadership to the West Bank and Gaza after the signing of the Oslo Accords brought about a change in the PGFTU's structure.

[15] In February 1997, the Histadrut and PGFTU signed an agreement to allow Palestinian workers to sue in Israeli courts for income losses caused by closures.

[18] When the Israeli borders were closed again in late 1996 following an outbreak of violence, the PGFTU reported that the resulting unemployment had reached 55% in the West Bank and 70% in Gaza.

[20] In January of the following year, Saed called on the European Union to stop importing goods from Israel until its forces withdrew from the Palestinian territories.

[23] In November 2002, a representative of the PGFTU accused the Israeli government of uprooting thousands of Palestinian-owned olive trees to make way for its separation wall between Israel and the West Bank,[24] which the federation later estimated could cost 52,000 Palestinian jobs.

Saed described the attacks as an "action against humanity and peace", and gave his "condolences to the American people and their families, the victims of this cowardly and shocking event.

Saed called for Hamas to return the building to PGFTU control, and expressed concern that the conflict could prevent 200,000 workers from receiving health insurance benefits.

[32] Azzam Tamimi of the London-based Institute of Islamic Political Thought questioned the legitimacy of Sa'ad's remarks in a 2007 interview, describing them as part of a "propaganda war" between Hamas and Fatah.

[citation needed] The head of the GFTU in 1982, Mahmud Ziyada—a friend of Al-Arouri and a unionist imprisoned for a total of four years during the Israeli crackdown on trade unions around the time of the First Intifada—resigned in protest over the lack of democratic elections; (today Ziyada is with the Democracy and Workers' Rights Center).

[36] These critiques have been supported by scholars Joost Hiltermann,[2][3] Nina Sovich[37][35] and Sos Nissen,[4] who argue that the PGFTU has long been dominated by political factions and has in turn failed to provide effective representation for workers.