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A joint communiqué of WAC - MAAN and the Hotline for
Migrant Workers to the Minister of Agriculture:
"Do not increase the quota of foreign workers in
agriculture."
The incoming Minister of Agriculture, Shalom Simchon, has
announced his intention to increase the quota of foreign agricultural
workers by 4,000 additional permits. This step will deepen unemployment,
will perpetuate poverty, and is a blow to the basic human rights of
economic immigrants.
It has recently been reported that the incoming Minister of
Agriculture, Shalom Simchon, is intending to increase the quota of
economic immigrants who work in agriculture by 4,000 people, added to the
existing 26,000 permits. The rationale given for this step: “A shortage of
working hands”. No sooner have the government’s basic principles been set
out, calling for the reduction of the unemployment rate to 6%, and for the
minimization of employment of foreign workers, and already we are faced
with an intention to increase the quotas for import of economic
immigrants.
The rationale given for this move by Minister Simchon is
unfounded. There are many unemployed people in Israel who are willing to
work in agriculture. In the past year over a thousand workers have
approached WAC, wishing to work in agriculture, most of them having
already gained experience in the field. WAC in turn applied to hundreds of
farmers in Central Israel and in the north, to employ these workers, but
all applications were met with one answer: ‘I have enough Thai workers, I
don’t need any more.’
Much has already been said about the hardship caused by
unemployment and poverty in Israel as a whole, and, in particular, within
the Arab sector, more than half of which has been hit by poverty. Tens of
thousands of Arab Israeli citizens have lost their places of work in
construction and agriculture because of the impossible competition
presented by cheaper workers. It is perfectly
clear to all that the shortage is not in working hands, but in workers who
are willing to work as slaves, under conditions tolerated by foreign
economic immigrants. If farmers were willing to promise a fair wage and
social security to their workers, they would find no shortage of working
hands within the Israeli population.
The import of foreign workers harms the rights of Israeli
citizens to earn a decent living. At the same time, it is an exploitation
industry with a turnover of millions, which deeply abuses the basic human
rights of economic immigrants. There are tens of thousands of illegal
immigrants in Israel, who are arrested and deported by the authorities.
The vast majority of these came into Israel legally, but lost their legal
status because of the Binding Agreement. It is scandalous to bring
in new workers from abroad while simultaneously deporting illegal workers,
instead of reclassifying and legalizing workers who have lost their legal
right to remain. This is another tier in the ‘turning doors’ policy of
Israel, behind which are several interests, such as employment agencies
and employers. These profit from every immigrant entering Israel, since
each worker pays them a vast sum in order to be allowed to come here. The
Minister of Agriculture’s decision to increase the foreign workers quota
is a capitulation to the pressures applied by these powers.
The Hotline for Migrant Workers and WAC - Maan warn that
letting additional foreign workers into the country will prevent the
integration Israeli workers and foreign workers who are already in the
country. We, therefore, demand that the decision is halted. The “turning
doors” policy – bringing in new foreign workers while at the same time
continuing with a practice of deportation – creates conditions of slavery
among legal foreign workers, and annuls any possibility of regularising
the work market. Under these conditions, there is no chance of work places
being opened to Israelis, and unemployment is bound to deepen even
further.
For more details please contact:
Rom Levkovich, Communications Coordinator, Hotline for
Migrant Workers: Tel. 054-3177851.
Dani Ben Simchon, Coordinator for WAC - Maan: Tel.
050-4330039. Dani Ben Simchon’s letter to the Minister of Agriculture will
be sent upon request.
Hotline for Migrant
Workers
WAC - Maan acts for the integration of Israeli workers in
agriculture, and focuses especially on the return to work of Arab workers,
who suffer high unemployment.
Hotline for Migrant Workers is a human rights organization
which acts to rout out slavery and human trade in Israel, and assists
economic immigrants, especially those who are under arrest pending
deportation, to realize their rights as workers and as human beings.
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