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After a strike lasting almost three months, Salit Quarries has ceased operations. The Jerusalem Regional Court has appointed a trustee to manage the quarry for the time being. The quarry owners, who tried to break the strike by every possible means and compel them to continue their work under humiliating conditions, declared that they are facing bankruptcy. The workers, and the Workers Advice Center (WAC-Maan) which represented them, see the end of this stage of the hard struggle in a positive light, and are preparing for the next stage: the struggle to protect the workers’ rights, whether by compensation for dismissal or by employment with the potential new owners. During the period of the strike, WAC-Maan managed to raise a strike fund which granted each worker NIS 1,850.
About three months ago, the workers began striking with the aim of signing a collective agreement. This was the first strike in the occupied territories and has far-reaching implications for the future of employment outside the Green Line (the pre-1967 borders of Israel) as well as inside Israel proper.
Salit Quarries is one of 11 Israeli-owned quarries located outside the Green Line. The quarry is near Maale Adumim. Most of its employees are Palestinians earning minimum wage. After some 30 years of employment with few basic rights, violations of health and safety regulations and humiliating labor relations, the workers decided to break their silence and organized with the new independent trade union WAC-Maan.
During the strike, the quarry owners refused to enter negotiations with the workers. Instead, the management tried to break their spirit in various manipulative ways, to divide them and wear them out, but the workers were steadfast. WAC-Maan succeeded in raising a strike fund which granted each worker NIS 1,850.
After some 2.5 months of strike, the quarry’s financial situation reached a crisis point. A large part of its equipment was foreclosed, and the firm was nearly liquidated. In an attempt to prevent this from happening, the quarry asked the court for operations to be frozen. During a debate with Judge David Mintz on August 29, it was decided that a freeze order should be issued, which meant the immediate end to the authority of the owners, the Calev family, and of the Chairperson of the Board Natan Natanzon, who heads also the religious council of the Binyamin Regional Council (a settler area in the West Bank).
The reasons for the quarry’s failure and bankruptcy are not entirely clear. Contrary to the impression given by the management during the negotiations that the firm was making a loss, it now appears that in 2009 Salit granted dividends of hundreds of thousands of shekels to its shareholders.
During a general assembly held on September 8, the workers accepted WAC-Maan’s proposal to appoint Attorney Ehud Shiloni, a leading figure in the field, to represent them in the complex process they now face.
Workers Committee member Niaz Kadadha and WAC-Maan National Coordinator Assaf Adiv summarized the situation, saying that despite the uncertainty, both the workers and WAC-Maan view recent developments with satisfaction because this historic struggle ended with the removal of the management and the end of its abuse of workers, and with the hope that a new investor would manage the quarry in a much more positive manner. They also emphasized they have no interest in closing the quarry and in fact hope for its continued operation, but will fight for the rights of the workers whether via an agreement with the workers and WAC-Maan (the representative organization vis-à-vis the new employer) or via compensation for dismissal.
For further details:
Erez Wagner, coordinator of WAC-Maan’s Jerusalem branch: 050-7596492
Assaf Adiv, WAC-Maan Secretary-General: 050-4330034
Workers’ representative Niaz Kadadha (English and Arabic only): 059-5411378
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After a strike lasting almost three months, Salit Quarries has ceased operations. The Jerusalem Regional Court has appointed a trustee to manage the quarry for the time being. The quarry owners, who tried to break the strike by every possible means and compel them to continue their work under humiliating conditions, declared that they are facing bankruptcy. The workers, and the Workers Advice Center (WAC-Maan) which represented them, see the end of this stage of the hard struggle in a positive light, and are preparing for the next stage: the struggle to protect the workers’ rights, whether by compensation for dismissal or by employment with the potential new owners. During the period of the strike, WAC-Maan managed to raise a strike fund which granted each worker NIS 1,850.
About three months ago, the workers began striking with the aim of signing a collective agreement. This was the first strike in the occupied territories and has far-reaching implications for the future of employment outside the Green Line (the pre-1967 borders of Israel) as well as inside Israel proper.
Salit Quarries is one of 11 Israeli-owned quarries located outside the Green Line. The quarry is near Maale Adumim. Most of its employees are Palestinians earning minimum wage. After some 30 years of employment with few basic rights, violations of health and safety regulations and humiliating labor relations, the workers decided to break their silence and organized with the new independent trade union WAC-Maan.
During the strike, the quarry owners refused to enter negotiations with the workers. Instead, the management tried to break their spirit in various manipulative ways, to divide them and wear them out, but the workers were steadfast. WAC-Maan succeeded in raising a strike fund which granted each worker NIS 1,850.
After some 2.5 months of strike, the quarry’s financial situation reached a crisis point. A large part of its equipment was foreclosed, and the firm was nearly liquidated. In an attempt to prevent this from happening, the quarry asked the court for operations to be frozen. During a debate with Judge David Mintz on August 29, it was decided that a freeze order should be issued, which meant the immediate end to the authority of the owners, the Calev family, and of the Chairperson of the Board Natan Natanzon, who heads also the religious council of the Binyamin Regional Council (a settler area in the West Bank).
The reasons for the quarry’s failure and bankruptcy are not entirely clear. Contrary to the impression given by the management during the negotiations that the firm was making a loss, it now appears that in 2009 Salit granted dividends of hundreds of thousands of shekels to its shareholders.
During a general assembly held on September 8, the workers accepted WAC-Maan’s proposal to appoint Attorney Ehud Shiloni, a leading figure in the field, to represent them in the complex process they now face.
Workers Committee member Niaz Kadadha and WAC-Maan National Coordinator Assaf Adiv summarized the situation, saying that despite the uncertainty, both the workers and WAC-Maan view recent developments with satisfaction because this historic struggle ended with the removal of the management and the end of its abuse of workers, and with the hope that a new investor would manage the quarry in a much more positive manner. They also emphasized they have no interest in closing the quarry and in fact hope for its continued operation, but will fight for the rights of the workers whether via an agreement with the workers and WAC-Maan (the representative organization vis-à-vis the new employer) or via compensation for dismissal.
For further details:
Erez Wagner, coordinator of WAC-Maan’s Jerusalem branch: 050-7596492
Assaf Adiv, WAC-Maan Secretary-General: 050-4330034
Workers’ representative Niaz Kadadha (English and Arabic only): 059-5411378
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