24-11-2013

3/11/2013

To:

-Mr. Gideon Saar, Minister of Interior

-Mr. Yitzhak Aharonovitz – Minister of Public Security

-Mr. Yigal Tzarfati, CEO of the Ministry of Interior

-Mr. Shlomo Buchbot, Head of the Union of Local Authorities

-Mr. Shaul Mizrachi, Committee Head of the Directorate for Local Government Economic Services Ltd.

Subject: Employment Conditions for Security Workers in Educational Institutions Under the Responsibility of Local Authorities

On behalf of the Forum on Enforcement of Workers Rights, I would like to address you on the following matter-

  1. During the past few years, we have worked and continue to work, on behalf of security workers in educational institutions that are under the responsibility of local authorities (in centers that are under the responsibility and supervision of “the society for the industry and economy of local control”- Local Government Economic Services Ltd). Our goal is to access and utilize workers rights, alongside the preparation of a survey that will expose the problem of rights disturbances in the field.
  2. We initiated an examination amongst hundreds of security workers at educational institutions this year, exposing a very harsh reality of exploitive employment characterized by disturbances of supervisional laws, workers rights disturbances and objections to rights protection and control. In addition, the data exposed the difficulty characterized by the population of security workers in educational institutions, of unemployment and low work probability especially in the months of the summer, when schools are closed and prevent workers from staying employed. This was exposed after we discovered that 79% of workers do not receive payment for holidays, 61% received only partial payment for their vacation days, 44% received partial payment for health and 24% of the workers received their salaries illegally. The findings of the survey are attached.
  3. Even though the data of the survey was collected from Jerusalem, the findings expose exploitive employment in all areas of Israel, in the field of security, and in local institutions as a whole.
  4. We handled a number of petitions in the past to the city of Jerusalem and Local Government Economic Services Ltd, and no articles were written on the subject in the media. Unfortunately, we have been unable to ignite change, and our weariness increases.
  5. More than the legal obligation, it is the moral obligation and the strength of the legal system, which should push local authorities to comply to fair employment conditions. We demand:

To immediately give enforcement responsibility of the companies of Local Government Economic Services Ltd to the local authorities.

To put an immediate end to all communication with contractors who were found disturbing the rights of workers.

To provide a solution for the deprived security workers in the summer by funding tenders for 12 months.

 

We look forward to your reply,

 

The Forum on Enforcement of Workers Rights

Contact: Martin Viller, Coordinator of Construction Workers, Kav LaOved