NGO warns of border workers' exploitation

Hundreds of employees expected to be hired by two companies that won the tender to operate border crossings between Israel and the Palestinian Authority are at risk of being exploited, a human rights organization said yesterday.

The NGO Bema'aglei Tzedek said the two companies proposed budgets that were unrealistically low, raising concerns over their future ability to pay their employees. The group said their proposals were considerably lower than their competitors and 10 percent less than the minimum estimated by the Defense Ministry. It also said that one of the companies, Modi'in Ezrahi, was ordered last year by the Defense Ministry to pay its employees millions of shekels in unpaid salaries.

The tender is expected to create employment for some 650 employees, whose tasks will include screening human traffic and merchandise passing through the crossings.

"Losing money on a tender can only result in infringing workers rights," a spokesman for Bema'aglei Tzedek said. "That's what happened with the 800 employees of the cleaning company Mishmar, which also won tenders but lost money, and that's what will happen with the border crossing tenders."

The Defense Ministry said it requires its contractors to abide by the law and fulfill its commitments to its employees. "However, we will check Bema'aglei Tzedek's claims and if the tender needs to be changed or altered we will do so," it added.