Some 2,000 complaints and reports have been filed at the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor against employers that have violated labor laws, but there is no manpower to deal with them. In practice, the authority that enforces labor laws is in a state of collapse.

Minister of Industry and Trade Eli Yishai (Shas) has been negotiating with the Finance Ministry in recent months in an effort to receive NIS 45 million to pay the salaries of dozens of inspectors. At the treasury there is an agreement in principle to increase the funding for labor-law enforcement, but a disagreement exists on the sum. The Finance Ministry is also demanding that any additional inspectors should be hired through contractors and not as full-fledged employees of the Ministry of Industry.

At present there are only 18 inspectors employed by that ministry, and they are responsible for enforcing 18 labor laws that affect approximately 2.5 million workers.

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In order to increase enforcement, Yishai rounded up some 300 workers employed in various other ministry departments. These ad hoc inspectors carried out visits and seminars at work places during two days in September, both to enforce the laws but also to explain existing legal requirements concerning protection of the consumer and the safeguarding of employees' well-being. During the visits, 92 percent of the businesses were found to be in violation of one or more labor laws. A total of 440 reports were registered against violators.

However, in order to handle the many complaints and hundreds of cases that have not been dealt with these last months, it is necessary to collect evidence and complete the details in each case. Only then will it be possible for the legal division at the Ministry of Industry to handle them.

"In the absence of manpower the investigations are being delayed and we cannot transfer them to the legal department for the legal proceedings to begin," a spokesman at the ministry said.

In recent days, MKs Shelly Yachimovich (Labor) and Reuven Rivlin (Likud) have asked that the Knesset Finance Committee hold a discussion on the crisis at the enforcement authority of the Ministry of Industry. Yachimovich is also holding talks with the treasury in an effort to convince officials there of the need to provide more funding for labor-law enforcement. This issue was one of the main points on the pre-election platform of the Labor Party.

Yachimovich recommended that the Finance Ministry redesignate some of the positions allotted for the Immigration Police, or for Ministry of Industry officers assigned to foreign workers, for use in enforcement of labor laws.

"Without adding 150 inspectors, the whole issue of enforcing labor laws is a joke," the Labor MK said.

Yachimovich is also preparing a bill to provide legal protection for subcontractors. The proposal calls for a mandatory minimum price for employment tenders, so that contractors who make the lowest bids and are then unable to pay their employees according to the legal requirements will not be able to participate in the tenders. The bill also calls for greater enforcement in these matters.