Prior to this dramatic development MAAN reached an understanding with the Histadrut that also recognized MAAN as the union of the Akim-Jerusalem employees and clarified that it would not intervene in the work of MAAN.
Akim-Jerusalem is a Non Profit Association that operates projects and several homes for the disabled, where hundreds of people with special needs find shelter. Akim-Jerusalem is a leading organization for people with disabilities and It has 130 employees from Jerusalem – half of them Jewish Israelis and half Palestinians from East Jerusalem.
These employees work for very low salaries. Part of their salary is defined as a “bonus” therefore it is not calculated in accumulative social benefits. As a result, veteran workers who spent all their years in caregiving find themselves with an extremely low pension. This reality leads to the flight of workers from the profession and a chronic shortage of staff. Those remaining at work have thus very challenging workloads.
In the struggle of AKIM-Jerusalem’s employees MAAN faces a major challenge as a result of the war. Our ability to unite Jewish and Arab workers is tested but we are sure MAAN’s commitment to the rights of all workers will enable us to can keep this unique group of Jewish and Arab workers united in an effort to guarantee their rights all the way to their first collective agreement.
