Guards underpaid as large firms pay subcontractors too little

Large corporations employing security guards do not pay subcontractors enough to allow them to pay guards as legally mandated - even if they wished to do so. The components subcontractors are required to pay guards according to labor laws total just over NIS 29 per hour.

However, data obtained by Haaretz indicates several shortfalls in sums paid by major corporations to the subcontractors who handle their security details.

Supersol pays its security contractor NIS 25 per guard hour, beverage maker Tempo pays a maximum NIS 24 per hour at Yerucham and Be'er Sheva facilities.

Do-it-yourself chain Ace and fashion retailer H&O, both part of the Gaon group, also pay NIS 24 for an hour of guard duty.

Major consumer goods manufacturer Unilever pays NIS 26.8 per hour, grocery chain Blue Square pays NIS 27.57 per hour and Ace rival Home Center pays NIS 26.64.

Tel Aviv regional labor court has ordered the Association of Civil Rights in Israel to negotiate on behalf of five guards suing the security subcontractor who employed them for NIS 200,000.

The guards say they were either not paid altogether or not paid in full for overtime hours, vacation pay, holiday pay, travel expenses or pension allocations. They are also suing for unexplained deductions from their pay.

ACRI lawyer Sharon Avraham-Weiss sued contractor Shaas and Supersol as a coemployer. The grocery chain sought to be removed from the suit, arguing it had only purchased security services from Shaas, but the petition was rejected.

Supersol pays NIS 25 per guard hour. However the cost of minimum wage, legally mandated social benefits, travel expenses and the subcontractors' costs for uniforms, equipments, administration and insurance, amount to NIS 29, a figure that does not include a profit for the subcontractor.

"The private sector sets conditions and maximum prices for the security companies that make the workers into victims of slave wages," says Pini Schiff, who represents the security company sector. "I call on the security companies not to capitulate to contracts with low hourly values that perpetuate the low wages in the market."

Well established security companies are trying to convince fly-by-night operators to join an initiative not to capitulate to lowball tenders: "We are trying to reach the shareholders in major corporations that contribute huge sums to charity and tell them to open their eyes, they themselves are contributing to this poverty."

Most major employers that acquire security services at slave prices donate money to charity and boast about community-oriented activities. Home Center, Unilever, Blue Square are part of an umbrella organization of business that consider themselves leaders of social change in Israel.

"We are promoting the approach that social responsibility includes commitment to environmental quality, workers, suppliers, customers and also contributing to the community," the organization's management says, adding that many members are adopting the philosophy.

Attorney Yuval Albashan of the Hebrew University law center says the initiative is not enough, calling it a manipulation by the business world. "First pay everyone a fair wage, and then, if they want, they can donate to a soup kitchen."

Supersol, Unilever, Home Center and Blue Square declined to comment, but denied the sums attributed to them.

Home Center, Unilever and Blue Square said however that subcontractors they employ undertake to pay employees as required by law and Home Center claimed to have documents attesting to that being the case. Unilever undertook to cancel contracts with any subcontractor operating unlawfully.

	A security guard outside a mall in Or Yehuda. (Archives)