The chaos and disregard for workers’ lives that have characterized the industry for 30 years have intensified recently due to the drastic replacement of Palestinian workers with migrants.
WAC MAAN continues to be a leading factor in a
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The recent public campaign against accidents within the construction industry has created new possibilities for change and for workers’ empowerment.
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The unprecedented conference gave voice to the union’s demands for change in safety procedures at construction sites.
Position paper submitted to the Knesset Committee on Labor and Welfare in response to the dangerous increase in the number of fatal work accidents
And once again the darkness is so deep, no light can drive it back. And the abyss is so dark, so mute and echoing, it swallows her up and wraps her in eternal silence. This is Salima, 62 years old, from Um al-Fahm. That night, five years ago, when cars converged on her humble home and the grandchildren alighted, she knew that Ahmed, one of her eight children, was no more. Five days of intensive care had stopped time in its tracks. Hope had not survived.
This first of its kind national conference took place through the initiative of WAC-Maan, on Saturday, July 23rd, to discuss the topic of safety in the workplace. The main message of the conference to 160 participants from the field of construction and their wives was that workplace accidents are not an edict from Heaven. There is no accident that cannot be prevented. The goal of the conference was to shake the public in view of shocking numbers: 30 yearly deaths of construction workers, most of them Arabs or migrant workers, and the injuring of above 6,200.
A team of WAC’s safety department met the safety supervisor Hasan Shuli in Kabul on august 31. The meeting took place in order to advance the program to raise awareness regarding safety measures among Arab construction workers. The program is financed by the Fund of The Israeli Social Security called “Manof”. Mr. Shuli gave WAC’s team basic information on the safety regulations in the construction branch, and explained about the mutual responsibility of the worker and the employer. For example, the employer is obliged to inform workers about the dangers at the workplace, safety measures and the suitable safety equipment. The worker, on his part, must follow the safety regulations and use the existing safety measures.
A team of WAC’s safety department met the safety supervisor
