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Rights for Contract Workers

By Ruth Sinai, Haaretz

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel recently launched a media campaign under the slogan "Oshek Mursheh" (a play on the Hebrew term for "registered business" and the words for "registered exploiter"), calling for employers to verify whether the workers they have hired using a contractor are receiving the salary and benefits guaranteed by law.

ACRI took on the campaign because the government has systematically refused for years to protect the rights of the tens of thousands of contract workers employed in Israel.

The state is caught in a clear conflict of interest, as both the largest employer of contract workers and the body responsible for enforcing labor laws. Up to now, the government has favored its employer role, choosing to save money on the backs of workers and shutting a blind eye to the wholesale violation of workers' rights.

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