On Friday, ten international trade unions lodged a formal complaint against Israel at the International Labour Organization (ILO), urging the Israeli government to pay wages owed to over 200,000 Palestinian workers.
The complaint centers on what the unions describe as “flagrant violations of the ILO’s wage protection conventions” by the Israeli government.
The unions, including the International Trade Union Confederation and the International Federation of Building and Wood Workers, stated that the ILO conventions, which Israel has ratified, are legally binding.
Israel agreed to the wage protection convention in 1959, affirming its commitment to uphold these standards.
According to the unions, since the escalation of hostilities in Gaza on October 7, 2023, wages have not been paid to Gaza and West Bank residents employed in Israel, impacting more than 200,000 individuals.
The average daily wage for Palestinians legally employed in Israel prior to the conflict was approximately 297.3 shekels (around $80.37), as estimated by the ILO.
For informal workers, weekly wages ranged between 2,100 shekels and 2,600 shekels, according to the complaint. The unions claim that the sudden halt in wage payments has caused “several million” euros in lost income for these Palestinian workers.
Furthermore, the unions highlighted that around 13,000 Palestinian workers from Gaza had their work permits revoked by Israeli authorities after October 7, effectively canceling their employment.
The unions are now demanding that Israel ensure these workers receive their wages for September (typically paid on October 9 or 10, 2023) and the first week of October 2023.
For the 200,000 workers residing in the occupied West Bank, their employment contracts have not necessarily been terminated, but they have been barred from entering Israeli territories for nearly a year, complicating their employment status and financial stability.
Senior United Nations officials called for an end to the appalling humanitarian disaster and suffering in the Gaza Strip, nearly a year after the outbreak of the war between Israel and Hamas.
