Last update - 00:00 18/12/2006
Heeding treasury, company to repay millions owed to workers
By Ruth Sinai, Haaretz Correspondent
The Modi'in Ezrachi security company will apparently return millions of shekels in salaries and other funds it owes to more than 1,000 past and current security guards in its employ, after the company buckled to pressure by the accountant general, Dr. Yaron Zelekha.
Modi'in Ezrachi was advised in talks over the past few months that if it did not return the money it owed its employees, the guarantees the company had deposited with various government ministries would be forfeited, and it would not be able to participate in government tenders in the future.
The agreement, signed by Modi'in Ezrachi head Yehiel Dahan, involves all past and present security guards working in the offices of the Housing Ministry, in the security unit that protect's the country's leaders, in the disengagement administration (Sela) and in the former Ministry of Religious Affairs. At present more than 600 Modi'in Ezrachi guards are posted at these various premises; formerly, the number of employees reached 1,000 or more.
The agreement may also apply to hundreds of Modi'in Ezrachi security guards working in the Defense Ministry, where the accountant general also found shortcomings in the payment of wages to the company's employees.
Zelekha prefered not to call in the guarantees so that the workers would receive the money directly, rather than via the government. The company asked for 14 more days to respond to the accountant general's findings and proposals. He is now looking into other contracts between Modi'in Ezrachi and other government bodies.
The pledge to compensate the workers came after a probe by the accountant general's office and the legal bureau of the Finance Ministry, together with the accountants general of the ministries in which the guards were employed. Initiated by Zelekha together with MK Sheli Yachimovich (Labor), the investigation was launched following increased media and public pressure, as well as lawsuits brought by employees against the company.
Modi'in Ezrachi owes its employees for overtime, vacation benefits, holiday and severance pay, pension deposits and travel expenses.
Attorney Eran Golan, who brought a suit in the name of a security guard at the Religious Affairs Ministry, which apparently helped spark the chain of events leading to the compensation decision, welcomed the precedent-setting agreement. Golan also said he hoped the arrangement reached would send a message to companies which sign agreements with the state that they must honor the rights of their workers.
In 2007 all contracts between government ministries and companies providing cleaning and security services will be scrutinized. The investigative unit in the accountant general's office, headed by a senior deputy to the accountant general, Eitan Kashmon, has already begun looking into agreements between 15 such contractors and various ministries.