From Challenge # 78  March-April 2003

Update on WAC's Campaign: A Job To Win

An Agreement with the Contractors Opens Up New Jobs

ON JANUARY 8, the Workers Advice Center (WAC) reached a written agreement with the Association of Contractors and Builders in Israel (ACBI). Representing the contractors were ACBI's General Manager, Yehuda Segev, and the Manager for Human Resources, Eli Landau. WAC was represented by its National Coordinator, Assaf Adiv.

The memorandum is a landmark in our campaign, A Job To Win. It acknowledges the vital role that WAC has played during the past year in mobilizing Israeli Arab workers for the construction industry. It presents our experience with two building firms, Solel Boneh and A. Drori, as an example for the rest of the contractors. By the terms of the memo, ACBI will encourage the other contractors, especially the larger companies, to make contact with WAC. We shall supply them with workers according to the terms of the collective agreement obtaining in the industry.

The workers referred by WAC will be hired by the companies themselves as their own permanent staff, on condition that they show they are professional and serious. Each worker who is hired in this way will be required to pay monthly dues of 34 shekels (ca. $7.00) to WAC.

In the two months since the writing of this memorandum, the hiring of workers has speeded up. WAC has now placed 550 workers in seven contracting firms.

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