The Minister of Labor, Dr. Nasri Abu Jaish and Secretary General of the General Federation of Palestinian Trade Unions Shaher Saad launched a Fund to support and assist workers working in the local market in case of emergency affected by Coronavirus with an initial financial assistance estimated by 40 million NIS, which will benefit 35.000 workers in the West Bank.
The contribution of the Syndicates Union is estimated at 5 million NIS, a large contribution from the government whose value is not yet known, as well as a contribution from the “Waqf Ezz” fund, in addition to donations and financial and cash assistance from Palestinian businessmen and owners of Palestinian capital among the Palestinian Diaspora.
Abu Jaish and Saad announced at a press conference that the registration of workers began to enable them to benefit from the “support and assistance for workers affected by the state of emergency” program through electronic registration on the link (pal-workers.pna.ps).
Abu Jaish confirmed that the Ministry will work to disburse financial aid to workers (estimated at 200 Jordanian dinars per worker) to those who have lost their wages and salaries due to the measures taken to combat the Coronavirus.
As for workers working inside the Green Line in the Israeli labor market, the Minister of Labor said: “The government has implemented a set of interventions and we have filed cases on the Israeli side to achieve their rights and in case we cannot be to achieve these rights, our workers will be inside the Green Line whose account is calculated at later stages and based on the capabilities available in this regard, and they will be included in other programs”.
The Minister of Labo also stressed that the priority will be for workers who have lost their jobs in the local market and are daily workers and the ministry will work to mobilize and recruit the necessary funds from various sources.
In turn, Saad stressed the importance of the initiative to support the affected workers in the local and Israeli labor markets, and said: “the program will follow principles of governance and transparency according to the proposal of the technical committee and what has been approved to work within the electronic registration system for workers.”
Saad highlighted that this is a preliminary step that will be complemented with other ones to focus in a manner to ensure the largest support for workers, whether from international or Arab parties, calling on all wealthy Palestinians outside the homeland to support workers in facing this pandemic.
Saad stressed that the number of Palestinian workers affected by the Corona pandemic reached 480.000 workers in the Palestinian and Israeli labor markets
who were greatly affected by the pandemic and said: “We will study the names that will be registered to obtain support in order to fairly distribute grants and aid, and we call and demand our affected workers to commit to online registration that works for workers only and has no other purpose.”
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