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Israel's construction industry today
Construction sites – perfect crime scenes Asma Agbarieh-Zahalka* Published in Haaretz 17, Dec. 2007 (The Marker – Views) On Friday 7 December, two Moldavian laborers fell to their deaths from the eighth floor of a building under construction in Rishon LeZion. The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor rushed to find someone to blame. Going by past experience, it seems that construction sites are “perfect scenes of crime” – in most cases, nobody will be held responsible. At best, the victim will be blamed for his own death. The same day was the first day of unemployment for Munir Kaawar from Kufr Qara. He was dismissed together with 17 others from the group of construction workers he heads. Kaawar and his group were taken on by a construction firm in June 2006 with the assistance of the Workers Advice Center (WAC). As the firm’s employees, they were entitled to all social benefits according to the collective agreement, including pension payments. The building they constructed was built to perfection and earned them much praise. Despite this, they were fired, because it is cheaper for the firm to hire labor migrants (“foreign workers”) and manpower agency or contractor workers. Kaawar’s case is a reflection of a wider phenomenon – the breaking of organized labor in Israel’s construction branch. The immediate result of this process, in which both construction firms and the government are involved, can be seen in the shocking statistic that 45% of fatal work accidents happen to construction workers even though these workers make up only 10% of the workforce in Israel.
Kaawar worked all his life in an organized labor framework. In the mid-90s, at the beginning of the wave of privatization and globalization, he was fired – one of 30 thousand Arab builders that were replaced by labor migrants. The local workers became unemployed or were compelled to work through manpower agencies without social benefits. In 2002 Kaawar managed to return to an organized labor framework with Solel Boneh, together with 500 others, through WAC’s placement project. This placement project was a triumphant response to contractors’ claims that “there are no local construction workers”: Solel Boneh employed WAC workers and granted them full social benefits according to the collective agreement. However, the honeymoon with Solel Boneh was short-lived. Even though WAC builders were highly praised and constructed many fine buildings, it seems their skills were “too expensive.” After about two years, they were dismissed by Solel Boneh and replaced by labor migrants and local manpower agency workers. Construction firms are unable to resist the temptation of cheap foreign labor without rights and abundant contracted labor, employed under shameful conditions while the government turns a blind eye.
The cost of safety equipment is not high. Prof. Yehiel Rosenfeld, Associate Professor at Haifa Technion’s Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty, estimates this cost to be no more than one percent of the project costs. However, the real estate sharks and the major construction firms seek to reduce costs to a minimum. Therefore they transfer work to contractors whose profits are extremely small (3-4%). For these contractors, extra expenses of even 1% are hard to bear. The result is an increase of work accidents due to negligence and the lack of even the most basic safety gear. Work accidents are not just a disaster for the hundreds of laborers injured or killed each year. They are also an expensive burden for the economy. According to Prof. Rosenfeld, “Tens of thousands of workers get compensation for work accidents and billions of shekels are paid out by National Insurance each year to victims and their families.” The constructions firms, on the other hand, benefit from the current situation. Real estate prices soar while employment costs plummet as organized labor is destroyed. The real costs are borne by the workers who are noticed only when they fall to their deaths, nameless and alone. • Ms. Asma Agbarieh-Zahalka is the coordinator of WAC's safety campaign Email her at: asma.oda@gmail.com – send cc to maan@maan.org.il |
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