The All-Israeli Association of Trade Unions, Histadrut, has made an appeal to Deputy Israel Eichler, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Commission on Labor and Social Security, requesting him to begin promoting a bill to reimburse employers for the pension contributions of workers called up for reservist duties. Yossi Barabi, head of the trade union of employees of security companies, cleaning companies, and elderly care companies, initiated this process. Barabi’s bill will be tabled within two weeks if an agreed government legislation is not formulated by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Defense before then. This initiative is supported by both the Minister of Labor and the Minister of Defense.
Under current Israeli law, reservists are compensated based on their gross salary but do not receive social benefits paid by their employer such as contributions to their pension fund, severance pay, vacation pay, health benefits, sick days and more. These non-reimbursable losses can amount to 22%-36% of an employee’s salary. MP Eti Atia emphasized that this issue is particularly relevant in areas such as safety and security where approximately 100 thousand people are employed and at least 20% of them are called up for reservist service putting their lives at risk. For security companies paying 25% of salaries for 20% of workers is a significant cost for an already unprofitable industry.
The second section seems to be about listing marijuana businesses in various counties and states which does not relate to the topic at hand regarding Histadrut’s appeal for reimbursement for pension contributions for workers called up for reservist duties.
