Sunset in Gush Dan September 12, 2021/Reuven Castro
Representatives of all contractors and the construction industries joined this morning (Tuesday) the Association of Contractors Building the Land in an emergency conference under the title: "Saving the construction and infrastructure industry".
The conference is being held in the background of close to five months of paralysis of over 45% of the construction sites in Israel and work to the extent of about 30% of the active sites there.
The conference was attended by over 600 contractors, entrepreneurs, representatives of infrastructure companies, renovation contractors, scaffolding contractors, plumbing and sealing contractors, public construction contractors, landscape contractors, electrical contractors and others who all report a complete halt in their activities from the holidays in mid-September to October, since the outbreak of the Iron Swords War The government's decision to impose a blockade on Judea and Samaria that has not been lifted so far.
For the first time since October 7th, the president of the Boni Ha'aretz contractors' association, Raul Sargo, attacked the government: "Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, contractors and construction workers worked from the hot hatch until the end of their lives, day and night, risking their money and their bodies to build our country, to build the country. And here it is , in times of need, you abandon them. I would not attribute the neglect to the contractors directly, but to the entire industry, including the housing demanders and the need for proper infrastructure. You send the industry into the entanglements of the bureaucracy that endlessly creates barriers and prevents the arrival of the workers we so desperately need. Yes, you are busy running the war , but there is no managing hand here, there is no hand here with powers that creates risk management and sets priorities. I call on you to intervene and lead a move in which 45,000 construction workers will arrive here within 75 days. It is absolutely possible."
Regarding the government ministers, the president of the Contractors Association said: "The Minister of Construction and Housing, Aycha. He stood by us and helped us complete the treatment of the crisis. Sir, Minister of Energy, the new energy infrastructures that the economy needs will become a distant dream, Aycha? Mr. Minister of Finance, you are strongly opposed to the introduction of Palestinian workers to work in Israel. Your opposition can be appreciated. But you are also the Minister of Finance. Where are you? How can it be that such a central industry that has a decisive influence on the economy in Israel is in such a deep crisis and you leave no stone unturned to solve it? We expect that with the same determination that you oppose To bring in the Palestinians, you will see to it that the foreign workers are brought in and you will work day and night to bring them in. If the problem is not solved quickly, it will be your failure. Reduce regulation, reduce the huge taxes and guarantees that you imposed on us, and organize an air train with subsidized flights to Israel. In the end, all the reduction of costs and speeding up the bringing of the workers Zero in sixty in the face of the damage that will be caused to the state as long as this situation continues."
Raul Sargo on stage at an emergency conference to save the construction and infrastructure industry/the Association of Contractors Boni Ha'aretz
Regarding the return of Palestinians to construction work in Israel, Sargo said: "We must not return to Friday in October, completely dependent on the Palestinian workers. There must be a division of at least 65% foreigners and 35% Palestinians in the core professions of the industry that employs another 250 thousand Israelis in the other professions in it."
Sargo also said that he trusts the security system to know how to manage the Palestinian Knesset when it becomes possible.
"The industry knew how to accommodate both 65,000 foreign workers and thousands of Palestinian workers."
Sargo added: "The stagnation in the construction industry resulted in the loss of millions of working days, over 15 million loss of the gross national product, over 17 billion of ours (after yesterday we were informed of the drop in GDP per capita which is an international measure of the strength of the economy), which also causes a decrease A dramatic loss of tens of billions of shekels from the state's revenues, has not gone unnoticed by the credit rating companies of the State of Israel, which have been downgraded, including the rating of the five largest banks in the country due to the large exposure to the construction and infrastructure sector's credit, which stands at an imaginary amount of 700 billion shekels."
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The director general of the Boni Ha'aretz Contractors Association, Brigadier General (Res.) Yigal Slovik, who also participated in the conference, said: "The crisis deepens with each passing day. The association has been called to flag and has already appointed over 15,000 workers, of which 10,000 workers in the countries of India and Sri Lanka have passed the screenings These days, a screening procedure is underway for about 5,000 more candidates in Sri Lanka, and next week over 10,000 more candidates will be screened in India. According to the calculation of the loss of working days we performed, by mid-February we had accumulated over 90 days of average delay in the completion of construction of all types. If the government decides to step in For that matter, the proposed plan to bring in 45,000 foreign workers by the end of April will be built and implemented. We are talking about the extent of the delay in the construction of apartments, infrastructure and public buildings will be about 177 days. Now you will understand how big the economic gap we will reach even if the government does not act immediately. Better late than not Not at all".
The CEO of the Contractors Association, Slovik presented to the contractors an orderly plan for the gradual bringing in of the entire quota of foreign workers approved by May 23 of this year. A plan that was presented to the Interior and Housing Ministries, according to him, if the sorting of the workers is carried out as planned at the same time in the track managed by the government vis-à-vis foreign governments (G2G) and in the track In which Israeli personnel companies cooperate with foreign personnel companies (G2G), it will be possible to complete the entrance examinations for employment in Israel for the remaining 35,000 workers within three to five weeks starting next week.
However, he warns that without the intervention of the government and the removal of regulatory barriers, it will take years for the workers to reach here on normal civilian flight routes.
Within the framework of the government's outline and conduct so far.
The contractors demand from the state to allow the workers to be brought in when the selections are finished, at an average rate of 8,000 workers per week and even more, so that it will be possible to bring them all to Israel in just 8 weeks (as shown in the attached table).
This can be realized in an air or sea logistics operation.
"The infrastructure sector is being deliberately crushed by the government"
The vice-president of the Boni Ha'aretz Contractors Association, which represents the infrastructure sector in the industry, Zvika David warned: "The infrastructure and public construction sector is being deliberately crushed by the government. Its licensing will take years if the state wakes up now and immediately. Without the state's intervention, the entire public will pay the price in heavy currency. Lacking Over 10,000 workers for this field who, until this moment, have not been approved at all as part of the influx of foreigners who will replace Palestinians. The country must wake up."
The chairman of the Renovation Contractors Association, Eran Siev, said: "We are no longer asking.
We demand that the government address the shortage of our workers.
The renovation industry immediately needs at least 10,000 workers.
If the government doesn't solve this problem soon, we will become their problem.
The distress created by the lack of hands working on renovations reaches everyone.
It is not possible for the government to ignore the situation it brought us to."
Emergency conference to save the construction and infrastructure industry/the Association of Contractors Building the Land
David Yahamili, CEO of the Foundation for the Encouragement and Development of the Construction Industry of the Contractors Association and the General Histadrut, added: "Aside from any procedure of bringing foreign workers to work in the core professions, the state must continue to support the great effort that the foundation has been making since the beginning of the war to recruit and train Israeli workers.
The government has set a budget for this area and it must be maintained and the contractors are also investing in recruiting Israelis much more than before."
President of the Federation of Industrialists and Chairman of the Employers and Business Presidency, Dr. Ron Tomer: "True Zionism is not a tweet on Twitter or on Facebook by a politician - true Zionism is the construction industry And the contractors who build this country, real Zionism is the construction industry that is now collapsing.
The real economy is here.
And if anyone thinks that we can depend on the import of construction products from Turkey, they are very wrong.
In one moment Erdogan can stop exports to Israel and cut off his own finger, just so he can cut our throats.
If we want to have an economy here after the war - the government must provide us with solutions and now - the government must immediately give absolute priority to the Israeli construction industry and contractors over imports from Turkey, we must bring in foreign and Palestinian workers and also provide financial compensation for the damage that has already been caused.
" The head of the Construction Workers' Union, Yitzhak Moyal, concluded: "The time has come to contact all the contractors, it is not possible that only the association will operate. All contractors should join the contractors' association. Thousands of headquarters will remain without employment in Israel if the government does not intervene. We are in favor of bringing in workers in any form. Also on a private track as well as on a government track."
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