Workers' rights protest, photo by Oren Ziv (Activestills)A government committee is currently convening to address proposed changes to the Hours of Work and Rest Law (1951). The committee was established after the Coordinating Bureau of Economic Organizations, which represents the majority of employers in the economy, pressured the Ministry of Industry Trade and Labor for three years to act to ease the burden of overtime hours on employers and lower payments to employees.
The committee, chaired by Eli Paz, former Deputy Director-General of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and Labor, will be made up of three ministry representatives, three representatives from the Ministry of the Finance, a representative of the employers and a representative of the Histadrut labor union. There is no representation for women’s organizations or workers’ rights organizations, both of which advocate on behalf of non unionized employees, who are the most vulnerable and most likely to be harmed by the changes to the law.
The members of the Forum for Enforcement of Labor Rights – the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), Itach – Women Lawyers for Social Justice, Kav LaOved, the Workers’ Rights Clinic at the Tel Aviv University Faculty for Law, and the Israel Women’s Network (INN) – warn that the committee’s recommendations are likely to seriously harm employee compensation, encourage employers to require additional hours, and sanction exploitative practices. The organizations are especially concerned about the severe harm to befall women in the labor field, most of whom play dual roles in society – both as mothers and as workers.
Attorney Michal Tager of Kav LaOved: “The Ministry of Trade Industry and Labor succumbed to the pressures of employers and established a committee to their liking, without giving voice to the most vulnerable employees in the economy in discussions of overtime pay. Terms like “flexibility” and “facing reality” hide a grim reality in which workers – both blue and white collar – are indentured to work long hours often without receiving their full rights under the law.
“In Israel, where a fifth (20%) of working people is poor, hard work has long ceased to guarantee economic stability. Now, after years of inadequate protection under the labor laws, there is a concern that the committee will provide legal cover for the exploitation of labor.“
Attorney Keren Shemesh of Itach: “The lengthening of the work day will exclude women from many jobs, making them less attractive in the workforce, stymieing their development, and pushing them to the margins of the labor market. The situation for working mothers in the labor market, which is already not good, will deteriorate.”
The Forum for the Enforcement of Labor Rights stresses that the law already allows enough flexibility in working hours and should not be changed. In its position paper, it recommends the following:
1. The Hours of Work and Rest Law should not be changed.
2. The work week should be shortened to 40 hours, as it is in OECD countries,
3. Overtime hours should be considered as regular salary for the purpose of social benefits and rights. This will prevent employers from using overtime hours to lower the cost of employment.
4. The loophole allowing for overtime employment should be closed and reserved for exceptional circumstances as agreed upon by labor representatives.
To read the position paper published by the Forum for Enforcement of Labor Rights (PDF in Hebrew), click here.
