Home

 

From Challenge # 80  July-August 2003

Local and Migrant Workers Make Common Cause

Joint Position Paper of the Workers Advice Center and the Hotline for Migrant Workers. (June 17, 2003) - Excerpts

THE HOTLINE for Migrant Workers and the Workers Advice Center (WAC – or Ma'an in Arabic) together oppose the government’s declared intention to "open the skies" for the import of additional migrant workers. We have two objectives: to eliminate the trafficking in migrant workers, who are treated like slaves, and to encourage the return of ousted local workers (especially Arabs) to the labor force.

Unorganized, often working twelve hours daily seven days a week at low wages, migrants from Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe cost local employers much less than local workers. The Arab citizens, in particular, once made up the principal labor force in construction and agriculture. The import of migrants has rendered them non-competitive.

The current policy is that of a "revolving door". The conditions for legal migrant workers are "slavery-like," as stated in a report issued by the U.S. State Department this week. As a result, many migrants go 'illegal', seeking better conditions. They are then hunted down, arrested, and deported, while new 'legal' migrants are imported. Under these circumstances, local workers in construction and agriculture find themselves shunted out of the labor market.

WAC-Ma'an and the Hotline serve very different populations, but our collaboration on this issue attests to the deep connection between government policy toward migrant workers and the bleak situation of unemployed locals.  While the conditions of enslavement among migrants constitute a severe violation of human rights, this is only part of the story. It is precisely because of these conditions that contractors prefer the migrants. They can exploit them with impunity, while raking in higher profits.

WAC-Ma'an and the Hotline hold that government policy serves only a tiny group of well-connected personnel agencies and employers, who earn vast fortunes on the backs of migrant workers. Apart from the evils mentioned above, they also (illegally and "under the table") charge migrant workers thousands of dollars in return for the opportunity to work here. They sell these laborers to other employers, while keeping their passports – all in violation of Israeli law.  The government allows the employers to enslave these workers and then deports them, at taxpayer expense, in order to bring new victims.

While importing migrant workers with one hand, the government undertakes mass deportations with the other, arguing that these are necessary in order to create jobs for Israelis. The rising unemployment rate belies this claim. The deportations are designed to shift public attention away from the failure to reduce unemployment.  Instead, the government blames migrant workers, inciting xenophobia.  The real problem is not "foreign workers" but rather the systematic exploitation and abuse of a labor force that is captive, underpaid, and voiceless.

In the past 18 months, nearly 20,000 migrant workers have been deported, many of them construction workers.  In the same period, WAC-Ma'an has succeeded in putting 600 local construction workers back on the job. More than 1000 additional unemployed have approached WAC-Ma’an, seeking work. Most construction companies (public declarations notwithstanding) have no interest in local workers, nor in foreign workers who are already here. Instead they prefer new workers from abroad. 

The new intention to "open the skies" violates the recommendations of experts on the Israeli labor market.  The government should cancel the so-called "binding" agreement, whereby migrant workers are "bound" to a single employer. It should equalize the earnings of all workers within each industrial sector. Such steps would make it less advantageous to employ migrant workers and re-open doors for locals.

In the light of this situation, WAC-Ma’an and the Hotline for Migrant Workers have decided to organize a public campaign to protest these policies.  We call upon all who support our position to join in the struggle.  As organizations serving different sectors of the labor force, we see this as a landmark opportunity to create an organized power base that will protect workers’ rights and human rights, while improving the humanity of Israeli society as a whole.  n

WAC-Ma’an gives legal advice to workers. For details, contact Michal Freedman at 972.3.6839145 / 972.53.435546 /wacnas@netvision.net.il

The Hotline for Migrant Workers is a human-rights organization that seeks to abolish slavery and the trafficking in human beings in Israel. It helps migrant workers, especially those detained and awaiting deportation, to actualize their rights as workers and as human beings. For details, contact Sigal Rozen: 972.3.5602530/972.64.723331/ sigal333@012.net.il.

For related articles, please visit WAC's web page: WAC Home