The Ministerial Legislation Committee approved a bill on Sunday that could potentially significantly improve employment conditions for tens of thousands of people who work as contract laborers.

Under the bill, workers who are not paid their due wages and benefits would be able to sue not only the company that hired them, but also the organization that hired that company as a service provider. Thus, for instance, if a bank hired a security company to provide it with guards, these guards could sue not only the company, but also the bank, for back wages.

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A worker would have to apply to the service provider for redress first, but should the service provider fail to pay the owed wages or benefits within 21 days, the worker could sue the service recipient as well.

The bill, drafted by several workers' rights groups and submitted by MK Dov Khenin (Hadash), is meant to create an incentive for organizations who hire contract laborers to ensure that the contractor in fact pays his workers properly - for instance, by threatening to cancel the contract if workers' outstanding wages are not promptly paid.

A similar bill was defeated in the Knesset a year ago, due mainly to pressure from the Finance Ministry. However, thanks to the backing of the Ministerial Legislation Committee - which, unless its decision is overturned by the full cabinet, obligates coalition MKs to support the bill - the prospects of its passage this time look good. The bill is slated to be brought for a preliminary reading in the house on Wednesday.

More than 10 percent of all Israeli employees are contract laborers, compared to only several percent in Europe. The system has become increasingly popular because it significantly cuts employment costs and increases flexibility: The organization that purchases the services has no legal obligations toward the workers, and can therefore cut back quickly and easily if it decides that, for instance, a smaller cleaning staff is in order. The biggest beneficiary of this system is the government, which hires 45 percent of the country's contract laborers.

However, even if the service providers do not cheat their workers, contract laborers are usually very poorly paid: According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, they earn only about 60 percent of the average wage.