Unions press Israel over Palestinian workers’ lost wages

GAZA (AFP): Ten global unions have filed a complaint urging Israel to pay back wages for more than 200,000 Palestinian workers deprived of salaries since the start of the war in Gaza.

The complaint, lodged at the International Labour Organization (ILO) on Friday, seeks unpaid wages and withheld benefits for workers employed in Israel before the October 7 attacks there by fighters from the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The unions cited “millions of dollars of lost income, causing severe financial insecurity… and widespread hardship for the affected workers and their families, who have no access to judicial remedies.” Israel has ratified the ILO convention on the protection of unpaid wages, which is legally binding on signatories.

According to the complaint, 13,000 workers from the Gaza Strip have not been paid for work done before October 7. In addition, nearly 200,000 Palestinian workers from the West Bank have not been allowed to enter Israel since the war erupted nearly one year ago and have not been paid for work done before it began. The ILO estimates average daily wages for Palestinians employed in Israel under regular work permits at 79 dollars a day, while for informal workers, weekly pay ranged from 565 to 700 dollars.

“These workers have experienced widespread wage theft due to the suspension of work permits and the unilateral termination of their contracts,” the unions said. They include the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF), and the Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI).

The ILO can decide to name a committee to review the complaint and the Israeli government’s response, or in serious cases form an investigative committee.

Hamas’s October 7 attacks in Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians and including hostages, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. Of the 251 hostages seized by militants, 97 are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel’s ensuing military assault on the densely populated Palestinian territory has killed at least 41,534 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures provided by the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

The United Nations has described the figures as reliable.