By: Anne Pabion Gonzaga
Being a worker in a foreign land means one has to know how to protect himself from being used and abused in any way. It is very important for people like us to be fully aware of our rights, responsibilities and obligations as well. It isn’t just doing our job but being knowledgeable about it. We must constantly get involved in activities which will give us more knowledge and understanding about matters concerning us and our kind of job.
One of the many organizations that extend help and assistance to the labor force here in Israel is the Histadrut. “What do they do exactly?” you might ask. Here’s the answer: The Histadrut General Federation of Labor is an Israeli trade union founded in 1920. It operates as an organization that cares for the rights of workers through the trade unions that protects workers’ salaries and standard of living and the granting and guarding of workers’ social conditions. It deals with trade union activities, legal action and counseling, education and information courses, popular sport, Na’amat, foreign workers and consumer protection.
The Tel Aviv–Jaffa district of the Histadrut initiated and established the Foreign Workers Department which has acted for several years as a help center and trade union for professional handling and protection on behalf of the community of foreign workers. The union offers a great deal of assistance to workers from Asian countries such as The Philippines, China, Thailand, India, Nepal, members and work immigrants from Africa and more.
The community of foreign workers now totals about 150,000 and works in sectors such as nursing, construction, agriculture and restaurants. The activity is personally supported by district chairperson Gershon Gelman and department director Hagai Herzl. They are backed by a professional team that helps workers looking for solutions to their problems by submitting claims and presenting their problems to their employers, and helping with aspects of their status in their dealings with the authorities.
Recently, the Histadrut conducted a seminar about foreign workers’ rights. I took advantage of the chance to know more and found it very informative and beneficial. It is a must to all of us, caregivers/foreign workers to be knowledgeable about our rights. By the way, Histadrut Chairman Gershon Gelman calls us “labor guests” not foreign workers. According to him, somebody invited us to come to Israel to work so he considers us guests. Not only Filipino caregivers attended the seminar but also some officials of the Philippine embassy (Vice Consul Bryan Jess Baguio, Cultural Attaché Tess Reyes, OWWA Welfare Officer Alice Lim, Assistant to the Nationals Leslie Mercado) for they too wanted to have more knowledge and deeper understanding about this matter so it would be easier for them to help us when the need arise.
The seminar was held at the International Institute of Leadership, Beit Berl in Kfar Sava founded by the Histadrut with Mr. Zeev Hoshen as the Chairman and Ms. Anat Harlev, Director of International Projects – Academic Director. Guest speakers were Atty. Yossi Gattenio who spoke about employer–employee relationship, Atty. Ronen Lifshits who talked about Labor and Protective Laws, and the status of migrant workers was tackled by Atty. Moshe Polak.
Histadrut plans to hold another seminar on the Rights of Migrant Workers in Israel as soon as possible again in Kfar Sava and Jerusalem as well. After the first session, we had fun dancing and singing with the very accommodating and friendly Chairman Gershon Gelman. Each participant was presented a Certificate of Attendance at the end of the seminar.
