Trains, Contract Workers and Unions

Israel Railways operate only a few lines, most stations are far from city centers and have no parking. The trains seldom run on schedule, there are either maintenance or development works going on, or strikes. There were numerous train accidents, including collision and fire. Their Maffia-style union has repeatedly disobeyed Labor Court rulings and has acted arrogantly, thinking it can turn the train service off and on at will. The Transport minister is threatening to close the railways down and open them up anew.


Now the union is striking against outsourcing. Although Israelis love to hate the railway union, this time the union is fighting for a just cause. The maintenance work should be done by Israeli workers and not by the Canadian manufacturer. So Minister, if you don't like the existing workers, fire them all and hire new ones but leave the work here!


Many years ago during a job search, I was interviewed at a large state-owned company. They liked me and offered me the job. When we finished negotiating my compensation package, they surprised me with "Now you find yourself an agency to work through, they are basically all the same, here is the list of agencies we work with." Me together with a third of their workforce did the same type of job as their direct employees, worked harder, but made much less. We were not entitled to lunch coupons, to participating in fun days and other direct-employee-only activities and were subject to other humiliating conditions. No matter how good my work was, my status did not allow for any promotion or bonus. There was no future. 

Last week there was a 4-day general strike against employing contract workers. The employers of contract workers are agencies that do nothing for their workers, except exploiting them. The physical workplace tells them what to do and how to do it. Contract workers often work alongside direct employees doing the same job for a fraction of the direct workers' salary. For years and years. Many of these 'transparent' workers are janitors and security guards, but not only. There are IT workers, social workers, and even teachers. And the biggest such workplace is the government. Why do they do this? They claim they want to increase the state income by cutting expenses. What the over-zealous government bureaucrats forgot is that the state is not a for-profit organization. Please take pol-sci-101 again.


In many cases, the state would be better off paying direct employees and not agencies, so why isn't it doing just that? Because of Israel's best kept non-secret: it is almost impossible to fire a unionized worker. According to this twisted logic, the state pays a premium (while the workers earn less) for the option of firing the workers when they are not needed. Dear Union, you brought this unto yourselves, actually onto us!