Still Young and Restless - Kav LaOved Turns 27! 

27 years ago, Hanna Zohar and a group of her friends founded Kav LaOved. The labor market was full back then, as it is today, with workers who are left behind – deprived of rights, of protection, of a place to turn to. Hanna accepted the challenge and established an organization that would provide assistance to these people, those who do not interest the powerful, and we have been here ever since – fighting for every worker and advocating for policy change. Time passes quickly, too quickly, and this month too has flown by.

On the occasion of our birthday and the end of fall, we have gathered for you news and updates from Kav LaOved's bustling heart:

Across the world, approximately 70 million men and women are employed in domestic work for an employer.  The era of slaves and indentured servants supposedly long gone, but humanity always manages to reproduce exploitative patterns. Last week, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights organized a conference to examine the terms of employment of these workers around the world, and presented evidence of the various incarnations of modern-day slavery. Kav LaOved’s Attorney Meytal Russo, our caregiving sector coordinator, was invited to take part in the conference on behalf of Kav LaOved. Meytal, attended remotely, presenting on the migrant caregiving industry in Israel including the inhumane and intrusive regulatory framework which characterizes the employment of more than 50,000 migrant caregivers in Israel as well as describing the blurry boundaries that occur when work takes place inside a home and the constraints of earning a living through a job that places a worker in the  in an unfamiliar family.

Across the world, approximately 70 million men and women are employed in domestic work for an employer. The era of slaves and indentured servants supposedly long gone, but humanity always manages to reproduce exploitative patterns. Last week, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights a conference organized a conference to examine the terms of employment of these workers around the world, and presented evidence of the various incarnations of modern-day slavery. Kav LaOved’s Attorney Meytal Russo, our caregiving sector coordinator, was invited to take part in the conference on behalf of Kav LaOved. Meytal, attended remotely, presenting on the migrant caregiving industry in Israel including the inhumane and intrusive regulatory framework which characterizes the employment of more than 50,000 migrant caregivers in Israel as well as describing the blurry boundaries that occur when work takes place inside a home and the constraints of earning a living through a job that places a worker in the  in an unfamiliar family.

Municipal elections and war in the south – who's going to pay hourly workers?

November was a difficult month for many people. First and foremost for residents of the Western Negev and the Gaza Strip. As missiles flew in the south, Kav LaOved received dozens of questions and requests from workers: what should I do? Where can I go? How can I stay safe? What does the home front command say? Even after the fire ceased, the flow of questions didn’t cease, because many workers, especially hourly workers, were hurt economically. Their salary dwindled because "they hadn't done their hours" and their employers didn't pay them because they hadn't shown up for work. Even though workers can't be fired during a state of emergency, protection of workers' wages isn't supported by law. In order to fix this historical injustice, we will show up next week at the Knesset's Labor Committee and advance this issue hand in hand with the Forum for Workers' Rights Enforcement. It's not reasonable that hourly workers, which constitute around half of Israel's poor workers, will bear a financial burden each time the conflict flares up.

We also receive many requests regarding the issue of employment on formal holidays, such as on the recently held municipal elections day. Many workers – again, especially hourly workers, didn't receive salary for this day – even though they are supposed to by law. Others worked on election day and did not receive 200% of their regular pay. Were they to turn to the labor court, their claim would be easily accepted – but employers know that few, if any, of the employees will exercise their right and demand what is theirs. And so disadvantaged workers' pay is regularly stolen.

Nine found work, four are still waiting for their chance.

Jayakumar, Alphonse, Cyril and Lawrence live in Beit Sh'an. They haven’t had money for food for a while now (good people bring them groceries occasionally), the toilet tank doesn’t work, and there is no hot water or gas. During the day they sit in their apartment, waiting for a miracle, and then walk around outside for a bit. The four of them are industrial workers from India. These workers mortgaged their homes and lands to pay high brokerage fees for the promise of a work visa and good job in Israel. The Israeli company that brought them over promised them high earning jobs as "industrial construction experts" but after three months in Israel they were left on their own – with no job and no work visa. This is not the first time this company tries this fraudulent scheme in India. This Israeli company repeatedly collects brokerage fees and abandons its employees: two weeks ago another nine experts from India, who were trapped in this company's fraudulent scheme for a year with no work permit, received, with our help, their work permits and job placements. They too had hit rock bottom as their families, who depended on them had entered a difficult state of poverty.

The responsible party for these tragedies is Israel’s Population and Immigration and Border Authority, which legitimizes the "experts" migration route from India without guaranteeing work permits, without oversight of the professional profile of the workers, all while abdicating responsibility for matching employee to employer. Jayakumar, Alphonse, Cyril and Lawrence are talented, hardworking workers, but they are not experts according to the standards of Israel's main industrial companies, and now the Immigration Authority opposes our attempt to enable these workers to gain the regular industrial workers' employment route.   Since the Immigration Authority seems in a no hurry and has ignored all three of our requests regarding the subject – we are going to court in order advocate for these four indiviudals, who fell victim to fraud and in order to end the shady machination that enables "bringing industrial experts".

What else did we manage to fit in November?

We showed up in front of the Supreme Court and demanded the Ministry of Labor publish, in real time, the safety orders it imposes on dangerous construction sites.

The BBC broadcast an elaborate investigation of the living and working conditions of Thai migrant workers in Israel. A piece to which we contributed as well as responded to its findings in follow up articles.

We also published our new report, centered on Palestinian employment in Israel, and held around the publication a conference. Many thanks to everyone who arrived listened and contributed to the discourse. We chose to feature a compliment we received in the newsletter. Thank you, Tamar!

And many thanks to you too, our dedicated partners, who accompany us, year after year.
                                                                                                                                        Yours,
Kav LaOved – Worker's Hotline