Arab Workers Union demands Israel pay millions owed to Palestinian workers

A labour union in the Palestinian-majority city of Nazareth are urging the Israeli interior and finance ministries to pay millions of shekels reportedly owed to Palestinian workers.

The Arab Workers Union says Israeli authorities owe approximately 515 million shekels ($158 million) in sick leave entitlements to Palestinian workers who were employed in Israel before the start of the war on Gaza, in October 2023.

The Union accused the Ministry of Interior, through its Department for the Employment of Foreign Workers, of deducting 2.5 per cent from Palestinian workers’ wages until the end of 2019 as sick leave allowances.

According to data, only 11 million shekels had been disbursed as sick leave for the workers by the end of 2019, while the remaining balance in the ministry's fund has stayed undistributed as of October two years ago, according to Arab48.

The union's legal advisor, Wahba Badarna, pointed out that the Ministry of Finance transferred part of these dues, amounting to 218 million shekels, to "compensate employers for war losses", while the majority of the balance remained in the Ministry of the Interior's fund.

Badarna said that Israeli authorities plan on distributing these finances among other ministries in Israel, including the Farmers Union and the Histadrut, Israel’s National Trade Union Centre, in complete disregard of the Palestinian workers and their rights.

In response, Badarna said the Arab Union Workers will take legal action against the Israeli ministries of interior and finance if they don’t receive a response regarding their payments.

As of 7 October 2023, around 75 per cent of Palestinian workers in Israel were employed in the construction sector, and around 15 per cent were working in agriculture. The remaining worked in the industry and the service sectors, such as tourism.

Following the outbreak of Israel’s military onslaught, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from both the West Bank and Gaza Strip lost their jobs in Israel or had their salaries cut, as part of Israel’s collective punishment policy against Palestinians.

Several crossings from the West Bank to Israel were closed, preventing thousands of workers from reaching their place of work, even with valid permits.

Israeli forces have even shot at desperate Palestinian young men - often breadwinners - attempting to cross into Israel for work, as poverty and dire conditions gripped the West Bank.

Israel’s crackdown on Palestinian workers from the West Bank has killed at least 35, and has also seen the arrest of around 11,000 as of August of this year.

In September 2024, ten global unions filed a complaint against Israel at the International Labour Organisation over its treatment of Palestinian workers, which they said breached a global treaty.

The treatment included the exclusion of 200,000 Palestinian workers from their jobs, as well as unpaid wages.