Protesting the Wisconsin Plan. Photography: Tami Gross
The Special Ministerial Committee for Legislative Affairs Regarding Economic Plans will today discuss the draft law of the “Heading to Work” plan, which forms a plank of the Economic Arrangements Law. This plan signals the nationwide return of the failed Wisconsin Plan. The Association for Civil Rights today called on ministers to reject this bill, which is almost identical to a previous draft rejected in disgrace by the Knesset in 2011.
ACRI conducted a comprehensive analysis of all of the clauses in the proposed bill, which revealed that apart from two minor paragraphs, every damaging aspect of the previously rejected proposal has been retained. Among other things, these aspects include:
- Granting authority to private corporations to deny government benefits to program participants.
- Granting authority to private corporations to place participants in “community work schemes” – which entails working for no pay.
- Granting authority to private corporations to demand the medical records of participants and forcing them to undergo medical tests in a serious violation of their right to privacy.
- Participants will be arbitrarily required to customize their program to cover 30-35 hours per week, meaning that participants will be forced to spend time in centers with no use for them or function for them to fill.
- The only ground for exemption from the program, incapability of employment, is extremely limited and will only be granted upon the recommendation of the private corporation.
- Participants’ rights to employment support services, such as childcare and transportation assistance, are not included in the bill. Private contractors will provide these services only if they see fit.
- Employment service centers are not permitted to participate in the running of the program.
The two clauses that distinguish the current draft from the previously rejected version are the requirement that a public representative be present at employment centers and the elimination of an exemption for mothers of toddlers.
According to Attorney Tali Nir, Director of ACRI’s Social and Economic Rights Department, “The attempted privatization of employment services was a total failure, and yet the finance ministry is trying to reintroduce the idea through the Economic Arrangements Law. Two different failed versions of the “Wisconsin Plan” were tested between 2005 and 2010. They received widespread public criticism and were repeatedly rejected by the Knesset. The attempt to use the procedures of the Economic Arrangements Law to approve this plan is outrageous and unacceptable, especially given that this is a proposal that would cause harm to the basic rights, including the right to subsistence, of people living in abject poverty in Israel.”
Related Materials
- To read about ACRI’s success in preventing the passage of the Wisconsin plan in 2010, click here.
- To read ACRI’s letter to ministers in the current government and the Attorney General (in Hebrew), click here.
- To read ACRI’s preliminary analysis of the draft bill (in Hebrew), click here.
