There is an ongoing debate about raising the minimum wage, in view of the lack of compliance to labour laws. Those who oppose raising the minimum wage repeatedly claim that the main problem in Israel is lack of enforcement due to the limited resources that the Industry, Trade and Labour Ministry allocates for its inspectors. 

However, two issues have never been properly aired – how to enforce effectively labour laws and minimum wage, important though it may be, is only one of the rights due to workers. In the hundreds of cases I have handled in recent years, failure to pay the minimum wage constituted a negligible proportion. The most common complaints were failure to pay overtime, and failure to pay pensions, holidays, convalescence and travel. Benefits for minimum wage earners total some 700-2,200 shekels per month. 

The Ministry fails to enforce these rights, preferring merely to enforce the criminal violations of the labour laws. The public debate, focussing on the number of inspectors and the minimum wage, therefore rings hollow. According to common wisdom, the criminal aspect is the main tool. However, there are others, such as class action lawsuits and barring participation in tenders. 

The only time a class action was instituted regarding failure to pay the minimum wage – when El Al failed to pay its cabin staff during training – the National Labour Court rejected the suit and sent hundreds of workers to file individual lawsuits. Enacting the Class Action Law did not solve the problem because the labour courts refuse to view enforcing labour rights as a key target and do not treat infractions as an epidemic. The National Labour Court has for the past two years declined to decide the question of whether 600 security guards earning minimum wage, for whom no pension payments had been paid, will have to submit 600 separate lawsuits or whether it will be tried as a class action. 

The Attorney General, who opposed allowing a class action in the case of bank charges, has not even bothered to join this process. The Industry, Trade and Labour Ministry refuses to publish a list of employers who were fined, or the list of employers against whom indictments were served for failing to pay the minimum wage, claiming protection of privacy. The Treasury refuses to disqualify employers who violate labour laws from public tenders and, over the past eight years, since it was granted these powers, it has never disqualified a single employer from contracting work from the State. The Labour Courts ignore rules allowing them to grant increased compensation in cases of failure to pay minimum wages and often fails to allow normal compensation. 

Three years ago, following pressure applied by worker rights organisations and Member of Knesset Shelli Yakimovich, the Ombudsman initiated a study of the extent of rights violations perpetrated upon staff working for the government employed via labour contractors. The findings showed that 100% of the contractors were in violation. No one in Israel really wants to enforce the Labour Laws. As a condition for increasing the number of inspectors from twenty to sixty, far fewer than in other OECD countries, the Treasury forced the Trade, Industry and Labour Ministry to accept students working part time instead of ordinary staff. It is unlikely that the Treasury would entrust trade restriction, income tax or stock market infractions to part time students instead of to experienced staff. 

Ultimately, no substantial discussion of enforcing labour rights or minimum wage is taking place. Workers' rights violations in Israel require a new approach on the part of the judiciary and the establishment of an independent authority for workers' rights, with budgets and powers equalling its civil counterparts. Until such a time, the discourse will merely be and exercise in grandstanding and working conditions will not improve. 

The writer is a lawyer and a member of Kav LaOved Worker’s Hotline. 

Translated by David Raveh