The employment arrangement of migrant workers in the construction sector states that the "alternative pension" money deposited by employers for migrant workers will be paid to the workers only after their departure from Israel. Until recently the workers were allowed to choose between receiving the deposit money into their bank account abroad and receiving the money in cash at Ben-Gurion airport, after passing the border control. The overwhelming majority, almost 100% of the workers (as reported to Kav Laoved by The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor) received the money at the airport.

About two months ago a new procedure was announced by The Ministry, which comprehensively denied the workers the possibility of receiving the deposit money at the airport. Its application was set to 7 days of the publication of the announcement. 

Kav LaOved had several times commented about the Ministry's illegal conduct, and expressed its concern that the workers will ultimately not receive the money entitled to them at all, either because they do not possess a bank account in their country of origin, or due to other bureaucratic faults.

Yet, The Ministry has been reluctant to change its stance, in spite of the chaos that prevailed immediately upon the publication of the new procedure, and apparently out of a dismissive approach regarding the workers' right to receive their money. 

Lately Kav LaOved started receiving telephone calls from construction workers who had returned abroad and claim they did not receive the deposit money into their accounts there.

Following up on this information, Kav LaOved addressed The Ministry once again, and was indeed informed that none of those construction workers who left Israel since 17.12.06 (about 400 workers) were fortunate enough to receive the deposit money. 

Contradicting replies regarding the reason for this were received from various bodies in the Ministry, including the difficulty to locate the bank account number abroad due to missing details or due to filling forms in Chinese Mandarin characters rather than in Latin ones (this still does not explain how it is that Romanian, Moldavian and Turkish workers – about 30% of the total number of workers who left Israel during the relevant period – did not receive the deposit money as well).

This conduct by The Ministry of Industry forms Criminal Negligence. Hard working individuals from China and Romania, poor people who came to Israel in order to provide for their families, were robbed by the State of money to which they are entitled by law.

Kav LaOved will continue to work towards the change of the procedure, so that workers can receive the deposit money at the Ben Gurion airport upon their departure from Israel. Kav LaOved will insist that the workers who left Israel and did not receive the deposit will be located, and the money transferred to them.