Shaher Saad, Secretary General of the General Federation of Palestinian Trade Unions, presented a briefing on the status of Palestinian workers in the occupation’s labor market to the delegation of the International Labor Organization, which visited the region last week to investigate the conditions of work of the Palestinians.
He pointed out that despite the inconveniences of Palestinian workers in the “Israeli” labor market, the numbers are constantly increasing due to the increasing number of young job seekers and families’ bread winners, which corresponds to the search of Israeli employers for Palestinian workers, despite the government's dumping “Israelis” for a labor market with foreign workers.
But Israeli employers prefer Palestinian workers, because they are skilled and less expensive than expatriate workers, and they are experienced and competent as well as familiar with the weather of the region and the nature of work.
“Operators are not obligated to pay government fees, or pledge to provide health insurance for them, or pay different allowances and provide accommodations While workers from as far afield as China, Thailand, Ukraine, the Philippines and Africa, they are very costly and unstable, and the “Israeli” employer bears full responsibility for them”, explained Shaher Saad.
He pointed out that the workplace has provided a suitable environment for the practice of more violations against Palestinian workers, and the escalation of the phenomenon of unregulated and passive work over the rights and gains of workers.
Saad revealed that in Palestine 400.000 are unemployed, most of whom are graduates; that is, there are 320.000 Palestinian families living below the national poverty line, and this fact provides an explanation for the reasons of the increase in the number of workers in “Israel” and colonies by 15% during the first three months of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, up to 128.800 workers in “Israel”.
Saad also explained to the international delegation that this increase is one of the tools of “Israel”’s control and its hegemony over the Palestinian economy.
It seeks to make Palestine dependent on its economy, which is already suffering from weakness and extreme fragility, and cannot respond to the needs of the Palestinian people that require action, as 95% of Economic facilities in the West Bank and Gaza lack real operational capabilities.
Saad also showed that workers who work in “Israel” could currently face unemployment if it decided to close the borders in their faces, which would cause unemployment rates in the West Bank to rise from 27% to 32%.
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