Dozens of afterschool care workers gathered Tuesday evening in front of the Holon city hall to protest the city’s plans to privatize their employment, which would lead to hundreds of firings.
The protesters, who organized through the Histadrut, among other groups, yelled out “Shame!” and “Promises must be kept.” They held signs reading “Respect to the workers—just wages and conditions” and “We want a collective agreement now.”
Collective agreement negotiations regarding Holon’s community and leisure department were held up until last month, but they were stopped following the election of Shay Keinan, who also serves as chair of the community and leisure department’s board of directors. At the beginning of the month, Keinan informed the department’s directorate of his decision to privatize afterschool care. Workers in the community and leisure department have already been summoned for pre-dismissal hearings.
“I’m here because one evening they just threw us in the trash,” Kuki Siman Tov, 60, who has worked at an afterschool program for 24 years, told Davar. “I’m not speaking just for myself. We all feel insulted and ashamed. I demand that our conditions stay as they are. The current mayor said he would help us to become municipal workers, and nothing happened.”
Orit Pinhasov, 54, has worked in afterschool care for twenty years. “I am very angry at Shay Keinan, because I personally voted for him,” she said. “He shook my hand and promised that we would be transferred to educational institutions, and now he’s turning us into contractors. I’m not interested in becoming a contractor without my rights. What about seniority? What, at age 55 I need to start fresh?”
