A large group of workers from the Better & Different food factory in Mishor Adumim has joined MAAN-Workers Association. The workers, who live in Palestinian Authority areas of the West Bank, unionized to improve their wages and employment conditions. Most of them currently work for minimum wage and have no hope of promotion.
MAAN unionizes and protects Palestinians employed by Israelis, both inside Israel and in the West Bank settlements, by signing collective agreements amongst other activities.
After the workers signed up, MAAN field coordinator Yoav Gal Tamir informed the factory management. In his letter, he noted that as soon as one third of the workers join, MAAN becomes the representative organization and the employer has a legal obligation to enter into negotiations towards a collective agreement.
Many of the factory’s workers also participated last week in MAAN’s workers’ conference. The conference was led by Othman Gharabat, MAAN activist in the Palestinian Authority areas, and Mohammad Saleh, worker committee chair at NA Metal Industries Ltd, who led the struggle towards the collective agreement signed in 2019.
Together with the workers, MAAN strives to bring the employer to the negotiation table, to ensure fair and humane wages and employment conditions. The partnership between MAAN and the workers ensures their rights are safeguarded and that negotiations with the firm are conducted according to the law and with the benefit of MAAN’s extensive experience in such struggles.
Translation: Yonatan Preminger
