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State, employers and Histadrut reach new deal on manpower workers' rights By Ruth Sinai Businesses commissioning services from a human resources agency, such as security guards or cleaners, will have to pay the workers' salaries if the agency defaults, according to an agreement reached between Industry, Trade and Employment Minister Eli Yishai, employers' organizations and the Histadrut labor federation. The Industry, Trade and Employment Ministry hopes the agreement, to be translated into an amended bill - the first protecting the rights of manpower workers, the weakest of the country's employees - will satisfy social rights groups and MKs who had opposed an earlier version of the bill. Advertisement "These are the last concessions we are going to get from the employers," Industry, Trade and Employment Ministry legal counsel Michael Atlan said. The cabinet-proposed bill was to have been based on agreements reached last year between employers and the government, and employers and the Histadrut to protect human-resource agency workers. However, the Forum for Enforcing Workers Rights, a coalition of social rights organizations, opposed the bill - mainly because it contained a number of clauses that shielded those commissioning labor from manpower companies. For example, if the business commissioning the service cancels its contract with a manpower agency, infringing the rights of its workers, the employees had no recourse to recoup money owed them by the agency. Also according to the original bill, the business commissioning the service had no responsibility toward a worker if less than four workers had been treated illegally while working at that business. The amended bill, based on compromises with the employers, states that the business commissioning the services will have to pay workers their due, unless the business cancels the contract during the first six months. Workers can also demand their pay from the business commissioning the service if at least three workers, rather than four, have been illegally treated. However, workers can only demand their pay for six months after leaving the business commissioning the service. The commissioning business will not only have to pay workers their legal wages, but also holiday pay and other rights outlined in collective wage agreements and regulations. "There are still some problems, but this constitutes great progress. Without the pressure of the MKs and the social rights groups, the law would not have protected manpower agency workers," attorney Eran Golan, of the forum, said. Sources in the forum said they believed the private members bill they had proposed, which was supported by MKs Lia Shemtov (Yisrael Beiteinu), Dov Khenin (Hadash) and Sheli Yachimovich (Labor), will be shelved in light of the changes in the cabinet bill. The latter bill had originally applied only to cleaners, security guards and catering workers, while the private members bill extended to a wide range of additional services, including transport, landscape workers, teachers and health services. The compromise bill is to include some additional human-resource agency categories, still to be decided. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Gilad's tale VIDEO: U.S. kids read abducted soldier's story of co-existence. Leaving Torah behind Study finds religion is not very important to American Jews.

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