The High Court of Justice (HCJ) decided this morning in favor of human rights organizations, stating that the state’s policy, which bound foreign workers in Israel to their employers, infringed on their basic rights and therefore must be repealed. The judges, Edmund Levy, Mishal Hasin, and the chief justice Aaron Barak, ordered the state to establish a new policy within six months, where foreign workers will not be bound to a single employer. With the current and now void policy, any foreign worker who leaves his work because of poor conditions or salary, or else is transferred from one employer to another (a common policy among employers, which usually occurs without the worker knowing that he is in breach of his work conditions), immediately becomes a delinquent, an illegal resident who can be deported from the country. The petition was presented to the HCJ nearly four years ago by the Hotline for migrant Workers, Kav Laoved, ACRI, PHR, Adva Center, and the Organization for Peace and Social Justice, represented by Adv. Einat Albin, from the Program for Law and Welfare at Tel Aviv University.

In his ruling, Judge Levy states that the binding policy, which makes the foreign worker’s visa valid only for a single employer, whether in agriculture, care-giving, or light industry, unduly violates the worker’s basic rights, and especially, the right to dignity, freedom, and autonomy. Judge Levy emphasized that this policy undermines the balance between worker and employer, and deprives the worker his ability to bargain. This state of affairs represents an opening for employers to abuse workers, for example, delays in wage payment, wages lower than minimum wage, lack of social benefits, and poor housing. Judge Hasin adds that “there’s no avoiding the conclusion--a particularly embarrassing and painful one--that the foreign worker is the indentured servant of his employer; because the binding policy created a kind of modern version of slavery. With the binding policy, a policy it itself fixed and enacted, the state in effect nailed the ears of the foreign worker to the employer’s mezuzah, and manacled the workers’ hands and feet with shackles and fetters to the employer who “imported” them into Israel.”

The judges chose that at this stage they wouldn’t determine the legality of a new employment policy which has been instituted in the construction sector, and which is different from the agricultural, care-giving, and industrial sectors. This policy, launched in May 2005, binds foreign workers in construction to manpower agencies, which can move them between different employers. The judges did criticize such an arrangement, but did not consider its legality since it is still relatively new. The judges also ordered the state to implement tight surveillance on the management of the new policy, and especially on the ability of workers to move between agencies.

The NGO’s which participated in the petition were pleased with the court’s decision, seeing in it a significant advance. They hope that the state will learn from this, and institute a new and appropriate policy that will preserve the basic rights of foreign workers. As one of the lawyers for the organizations puts it, Adv. Itay Sabirski from the Program for Law and Welfare at Tel Aviv University, the decision to repeal the binding policy will only help the Israeli labor market. This is true because the binding policy was what enabled employers to abuse foreign workers with poor working conditions, and thus explains why they favored them over Israeli workers. The repeal will over the long run promote better working conditions in these sectors, where mostly foreign workers were employed, and which were characterized by very poor wages and conditions.

More articles in this issue:

• Court puts end to 'chaining' of foreign workers  "The Jerusalem Post", March 31, 2006
  
• HCJ overturns foreign worker cartel policy  "Globes", March 30, 2006
  
• High Court: Breaking ties that bind  "The Jerusalem Post", March 30, 2006
  
• High Court slams state for terms of permits for migrant workers  "Haaretz", March 30, 2006