Exploited and underpaid, Palestinian women are fighting back in the workplace

Adla Ayad, a worker at the ‘Mevashlim Bishvilech’ factory in the industrial zone of the West Bank settlement of Mishor Adumim,  December 5, 2019

Judith Sudilovsky writes in +972, “On Wednesday, December 3, 15 of the 20 employees of the “Mevashlim Bishvilech” factory in the industrial zone of Mishor Adumim, an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, went on a two-day strike demanding fair wages and social benefits according to Israeli law, after they said the company’s management cut about NIS 1,000 from their wages in October. The company also refused to pay for holidays or past debts owed to the employees, they said.”

“The striking employees, most of whom are Palestinian women who were leading a work strike demanding their employee rights for the first time, were unionized by the labor organization Workers Advice Center (WAC-MAAN) trade union in September. Initially, management opened negotiations and held two meetings with the trade union and the workers’ representatives, but WAC-MAAN maintains that despite apparent understandings which were achieved, the company — which produces homemade stuffed vegetables — nevertheless unilaterally cut payroll.”…

Although most workers in industrial areas are men, there are a significant number of Palestinian women who work there, especially in the food and catering sectors. To date, women have not dared claim their rights or challenge the harsh working conditions. Many do not make minimum wage, receive no pay slips, and are subject to arbitrary layoffs.”

WAC-MAAN representative Yoav Tamir speaks to Palestinian workers on strike , December 5, 2019

“WAC-MAAN representative Yoav Tamir said this is the first time a group of Palestinian women workers join a workers’ union and demand the opening of collective bargaining negotiations to secure their rights. The unionization of workers at Mevashlim Bishvilech (“We cook for you” in Hebrew) is part of a wave among Palestinian workers and workers’ associations in the settlement industrial zones over the past six months, noted WAC-MAAN. “This situation indicates that the Palestinians, women and men, have grown tired of the existing situation in which they have been working for decades under harsh conditions, and have begun to defend their rights,” a WAC-MAAN statement said last.”…

Mevashlim Bishvelech CEO Sharon Avital told +972 Magazine in a phone interview that the discrepancy in wages between September and October stemmed from the overtime the employees had worked in September due to the extra work orders during the Jewish holiday season. Per the request of WAC-MAAN they agreed to pay the workers for the Jewish holidays and the extra will be paid this month, she said. Normally they have been paying for the Muslim holiday, she said, but in the upcoming negotiations with WAC-MAAN the workers will decide if they want to be paid for either the Jewish or the Muslim holidays, she added.” (more…)