The unions have accused Israel of violating the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) protection of wages convention by holding back payments and benefits of workers from Gaza and the West Bank for their work before the October 7 attack
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Israel has allegedly denied wage payments to over 200,000 Palestinians employed in the country, as many as 10 trade unions have said as they filed an official complaint on Friday.
The unions have accused Israel of violating the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) protection of wages convention by holding back payments and benefits of workers from Gaza and the West Bank for their work before the October 7 attack.
The complaint claims that Palestinian workers employed in Israel have not received their wages for work that they completed before October 2023, saying that the denial of payments has pushed many labourers into poverty.
How much does a Palestinian worker earn?
According to estimates from the ILO, Palestinian workers in Israel had an average daily wage of 297.30 shekels (approximately $79), with weekly earnings ranging between 2,100 and 2,600 shekels ($565 to $700).
What does the complaint say?
The complaint, registered by trade unions including Building and Wood Workers’ International, Education International, the IndustriAll Global Union, among others, seeks to recover the unpaid dues of Palestinian workers.
The executive director of the Maan Workers Association, Assaf Adiv, told The Guardian, “Two hundred thousand workers in the West Bank lost their jobs. Thousands of workers who risk entering Israel without permits face repression, humiliation and even death. Workers are a major social layer in Palestinian society that is peaceful and doesn’t associate with Hamas and thus should not be punished.”
After Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, workers from the West Bank and Gaza were no longer allowed to be employed in the country which in turn shut their only source of income.
Israel revoked the work permits of 13,000 Palestinian workers, some of whom were not even served termination notices, the complaint said. Meanwhile, 200,000 workers have not been allowed to enter Israel since the attack.
Under normal circumstances, the salary would have been paid by October 9.
‘Sole breadwinner of family, can’t cover basic needs’
For Palestinian workers going out of job has burned a hole in their pockets and expectedly so.
“When the war started, we returned home during the initial phase of the conflict. Since then, we haven’t received any salaries or found any work,” said Khaled Jamal Muhammad Karkash, a worker.
“Since the first war, I’ve only been working four days a month, just enough to cover basic necessities like bread and oil. I was engaged before the war, but now, I’ve not finished building my house, I can’t afford to get married,” he added.