A majority of cabinet ministers recently thwarted a plan by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, civilian control center Czar Tal Basachs, and the security apparatus to allow tens of thousands of construction workers into Israel from the Palestinian Authority. Meanwhile, the construction industry in Israel is in crisis, and facing an imminent collapse.
With some 80 thousand PA Arab workers kept away, and 15 thousand foreign workers returning to their home country because of the war, creative alternatives are being bandied about, since, you know, Israel is the hub of creative improvising.
One of the most inspired outside-the-box solutions is replacing the missing workers with Israelis. To date, Israelis have been employed only in the final stages of construction – electrical work, air conditioning, painting, exterior cladding, carpentry, and setting kitchen counters. The “wet works” have always been done by Arabs and foreigners – preparing infrastructure, molding concrete walls, ironwork, flooring, and plastering.
According to Amit Gottlieb, vice president of the Bonei Ha’aretz Association of Contractors, and head of its human resources department, in recent years, Haredi men have become interested in working in the industry.
“There is a willingness to work, they really like the construction industry because they hardly ever meet women there. It works on a friend-bring-a-friend basis. There are excellent conditions for the wet works jobs, they are paid double the minimum wage, there’s a retirement fund, vacation days, and recovery days. And if you want to move forward – the door is open,” Gottlieb told Ynet.
The starting salary for an Israeli construction worker in wet works is about NIS 11,000 ($3,030) a month ($36,360 annually) and can reach up to NIS 15,000 ($4,232) a month ($50,784 annually). In addition, they receive social benefits, including a retirement fund.
With many Haredi day workers earning less than the minimum wage in illegal menial jobs that may not require the same skills as construction but can be as physically demanding, earning construction salaries can mean tripling their income.
PA Arab workers’ wages range from NIS 6,500 a month for inexperienced laborers to as much as NIS 10,000 a month for workers with seniority. Foreign construction workers earned between NIS 13-15 thousand, but because of the recent shortage of experienced workers, the foreign workers who remained in Israel have been earning as much as NIS 20,000 ($5,510) a month, or $66,120 annually.
Eran Ben David who owns a construction business in central Israel told Ynet, “The construction industry has not adapted itself to the modern labor market of 8-9 work hours a day, 5 days a week. It’s hard work that does not suit Israelis. But it pays very well, and if we manage to train army veterans or young students, they will be able to earn double what they earn as waiters or in food deliveries.”
“True, it is challenging work, and we are a spoiled people and it seems to us almost impossible for an Israeli to do manual labor. But the work will be of high quality, the money will not go abroad, and we will not be dependent on outside factors,” says Ben David, but adds, “To promote this initiative, the state needs to support it.”
Turns out the state got involved. A campaign to recruit and train Israelis for construction took off in early December, with a budget of NIS 20 million ($5.51 million). In its first two weeks, the campaign enlisted about a thousand Israelis eager to be trained.
But Amit Gottlieb points out that even at this impressive rate, this campaign will not begin to answer the industry’s burning needs any time soon.
