Chinese worker Meng Fu-Wong in Ma'asiyahu prison on Friday. Photo by David Bachar

Meng, 41, said yesterday from Ma'asiyahu prison, that in order to receive a new work permit he had given his passport to his employer, along with a sum of $1,000 - the fee the employer, not the worker, is obligated to pay the government to obtain a permit for foreign workers. Meng ended up with neither a permit nor his passport. For a 12-hour work day, he earned $1,000 a month, less than the minimum wage required by law.

A week after his arrest, the Hotline for Migrant Workers demanded his release, along with four other Chinese workers who were arrested around the same time. The Interior Ministry conditioned his release on a deposit of NIS 2,000 as bail for each worker but the following day retracted its agreement, claiming Meng could not be released without a passport. They promised, however, that if the passport were retrieved, they "would be glad to reconsider the request."

Livnat, who represents both migrant workers rights groups, was pleased with the answer, but doubted the promise. That same day he checked with the department of flight coordination at the Immigration Police and discovered that Meng was scheduled to fly to Beijing that same night. Livnat immediately called the Interior Ministry, which agreed to delay the deportation until May 25.

This morning, Livnat will submit a petition to Tel Aviv District Court on behalf of Meng and 20 other Chinese workers who were arrested this month, demanding their release and the annulment of their deportation orders. Livnat claims the arrests and the orders violate an explicit promise the government gave the High Court and Kav La'Oved not to deport construction workers who came into Israel legally and have been in the country for less than five years.

The promise was made to accommodate the transition to a new system of employing construction workers, effective since May 1, whereby workers will no longer be employed by building contractors but by 38 employment agencies, which will sell the workers' services to the contractors.

"We are aware of the need for a transition period ... an agreement was made with the Immigration Police that no enforcement procedures [arrests and deportations R.S.] would be carried out against foreign workers who arrived in Israel to work in construction, and have been in Israel for less than five years," wrote attorney Tehilla Logger of the Industry, Trade and Employment Ministry on April 20, with a copy to Yossi Edelstein, deputy head of the enforcement department in the Interior Ministry.

The promise was given in response to a letter written by Livnat pointing out that most of the workers have not had their permits renewed since the end of 2004. The permits were prepared, but employers refused to pay a full year's fee for them, since they would only be valid for three months until the new system was in place. On January 1, Kav La'Oved, together with the Hotline for Migrant Workers, petitioned the High Court against the two relevant ministries, for leaving thousands of workers without permits. The government promised to issue the permits by February 3, and the court noted the state's promise not to deport workers found without valid permits.

The Interior Ministry claims some of the workers recently arrested were working in renovations and not in construction, thereby violating their conditions of employment in Israel. Livnat replies that even were this assertion based in fact, the responsibility of making that distinction is the employer's not the worker's. In the past, Livnat further claims, the state has often "laundered" workers caught working in renovation projects, and therefore the two categories should be seen as interchangeable.

Livnat also protests the fact that the state has not explained to the workers the meaning of the new changes, nor instructed them how to register with their new employers. The Industry, Trade and Employment Ministry promised four weeks ago to invite the workers rights organization for a consultation on how to inform the workers of the new procedures, but the meeting has not yet taken place. Livnat blames the state for ignoring the effect of the new system on the workers' lives, "as if they were not human beings with rights and dignity, but rather spare parts that can be swept to the rubbish bin of illegality without batting an eyelid," wrote Livnat.