Although the Israeli occupation government presented an improved plan for the compensation that companies and workers will receive for war losses in Gaza, criticism quickly came from various concerned parties.

The head of the Manufacturers Union said, according to what was published by the Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom: “They have completely abandoned companies. When these companies are forced to lay off their workers because they cannot meet their wages, these workers receive little unemployment compensation, and they are not provided with all social insurance.”

Anger in Israel

The improved plan presented by the Israeli Ministry of Finance sparked a wave of criticism, and was criticized by opposition lawmakers in the Knesset, contractors, industrialists, major companies, retail chains, and other workers in the economy, who said that the plan ignored their needs even after it was improved.

In an interview with the Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom, Ron Tomer, head of the Manufacturers Union and head of the Employers and Companies Association, believes that the main problem with the scheme is abandoning large companies and being content with partial payment of the wage expenses of workers in establishments eligible for compensation.

Tomer also warned that these companies would be forced to lay off hundreds of thousands of workers, and that they would resort to unemployment benefits, and he urged the Israeli Ministry of Treasury to adopt a new scheme, which includes comprehensive compensation for salaries, as was the case in previous rounds of fighting, and to announce a flexible model for unemployment benefits, In order to maintain a good relationship between employers and employees.

The Israeli occupation of Gaza

Israelis fled the settlements after the Al-Aqsa Flood operation - Reuters

Tomer also pointed out that the plan does not provide a solution for hundreds of thousands of parents across the country, who were forced by the closure of schools and educational facilities to babysit their children and prevent them from coming to work. Especially since they do not yet know why the government has abandoned them since October 8, leaving them without wages.

Tomer said that he agrees with the government that “companies with a turnover of more than 400 million shekels (about 100 million US dollars) annually are large and well-established companies, but they were also affected by the war.” “For example, a company with a turnover of one billion shekels ($250 million) and its sales decreased by 50% and it employs a thousand workers. This company will not be able to continue employing this number of workers unless it receives compensation sufficient to pay the wages of its workers.

Large numbers of workers are threatened with layoffs!

As for Raoul Sargo, head of the Builders Association in the Haaretz Union of Contracting Companies, he believes that the main problem with the plan is not relying on a flexible model to track the movement of the labor market, and being satisfied with partial compensation to companies for workers’ wages. This will prompt many construction and utility companies to lay off large numbers of workers.

Sargo said: “Even though they raised the compensation rate for workers’ wages to 75%, construction companies are still forced to fire excess workers. If these workers are unemployed and stay at home, this will exacerbate the housing crisis.” Sargo warned of the risk of having to "lay off about 100,000 workers in the construction and infrastructure sector, and tens of thousands of workers in the construction industries sector."

The Association of Commercial Chains in the Federation of Chambers of Commerce claimed that the Ministry of Finance “decided to continue neglecting hundreds of thousands of workers, whose only fault was that they chose to work for major companies in Israel.”

The association said: “Although we have been able to amend the financing plan for small and medium-sized companies to a large extent, the plan presented by the government still ignores the hundreds of thousands of workers employed by large companies in the economy, trade, industry and construction. A large portion of these workers will be left unemployed, and will not Many of them find a place to return to. In addition, thousands of small companies, which depend for their survival on large companies, will suffer damages resulting from the consequences of the crisis, and may go bankrupt, so we warn of a tsunami that includes thousands of laid-off workers, whose compensation will represent an additional burden on budget".

Source: Arabic Post