With name, picture and story: The cleaning facts cease to be transparent
Cleaning industry workers come to the workplace first and leave last, but many testify that the general public simply ignores them.
The College of Management has decided that things will look different with them - and now they are publishing an exhibition that aims to put the cleaning facts at the center.
"Finally see me and talk to me patiently"
Uri Sela
26/05/2022
Thursday, 26 May 2022, 12:38
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Stop being transparent.
Exhibition of the College of Management (Photo: Official Website, Abir Zoarz)
"I worked as a cleaner in Tel Aviv, in Herzliya, in a lot of places. In none of them did they see me. I did not know Hebrew, not even the letters A or B to write my name, and I had no one to turn to when something happened. I worked all day and just said To me, 'Come on, come on, go do this and that,' "Amleset Bahtah describes the 12 years that have passed since she landed from Eritrea.
The experience of many cleaning industry workers, especially those employed through a contractor, is similar.
They arrive at work earlier than anyone else and leave last, but can go through whole days without anyone asking how they are.
When their rights are violated - in many cases there is no one to turn to, or they do not know how.
The College of Management decided that things would look different with them.
The project undertaken by the Clinic for Gender, Law and Social Change began 13 years ago with access to basic knowledge about legal rights and domestic violence to on-campus cleaning workers, and has evolved into Hebrew classes, legal aid - execution, social security, family law - and empowerment workshops.
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Leading the exhibition alongside the cleaning facts at the College of Management (Photo: Official Website, Avir Zoarz)
Under the title "We are not transparent", an exhibition was placed this week in the corridors of the college showing a picture, name and story of six out of 35 facts, who agreed to be photographed and shared.
"I'm kind, a mother of three. The gym is my favorite place and of course the sauna," read one of the signs.
Brahna chose to tell that she came to Israel from Ethiopia and that her main hobby is knitting bags.
"You should try one," she is quoted as saying.
Other facts wrote that they like to dance, watch movies or hang out with the kids.
"I have been working here for nine months, and the feeling is that they are finally seeing me and talking to me patiently," Amelsat said.
Below her picture is stated that she is a mother of five children and loves to listen to music.
"We start with a deeper acquaintance with the facts, a mapping of their needs and socio-economic situation. Then we ask them how they want us to help - and act accordingly," explained Adv. Miriam Zalkind, director of the Law and Gender Clinic. Their rights, sometimes even physical.At the beginning of the year, an employee who wanted to claim severance pay from her previous employer turned to a lawyer who demanded an imaginary fee of about half the amount she deserved.The students returned with her to his office and demanded a reduction in payment.
Exhibition of the College of Management (Photo: Official Website, Abir Zoarz)
"We were surprised to find that there are lawyers who have taken a niche of working with contractor workers. They understood that the workers are weakened and do not understand the language, which opens the door to exploitation and demands very high fees," said three students, Hadar Bichman, Yuval Livneh and Karin Sapir.
"We told him that demanding NIS 5,000 for a document that takes a minute and a half to prepare does not make sense. The employee mentioned that she had a lot of companies that fell into his trap, but she decided to fight.
Representatives of the students, staff and the director of the clinic spoke at the presentation of the exhibition held earlier this week at the college.
The excitement was palpable.
"I have been working at the college for almost 16 years. I love the people and the students and I have fun, that's why I continue to work here," cried Edna Kabta, one of the veteran workers.
She did not plan to speak, but when the ceremony began she felt the need to cherish gratitude.
“I have long wanted to leave and stayed only because of the attitude.
"Sometimes change has to start from the bottom up."
Facts of cleaning at the College of Management (Photo: Official website, Avir Zoarz)
"Treating facts in this way brings them closer to us and gives a sense of home," said Eran, who is in charge of cleaning on campus, and testified that this has an effect in practice, on the level of work and cleanliness in the college.
"There is a direct connection to their resentment, their loyalty to the place. For me, it will not happen that a worker's rights here are violated, I will reach out to the company's CEO and make sure they get what they need.
In my opinion, the same thing should be done with the security guards here. "
In recent years, the college has tried to offer the project to other educational institutions. So far, they have not heard of a university or college that responded to the call." Lebenstein-Lazar.
But even the college itself has one last dam to break: direct employment of the cleaning facts.
"There have been attempts in previous years to start such a pilot, but if we had run straight there we could not have done what we do," Lebenstein-Lazar said.
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Cleaning workers
Contractor workers
College of Management
Cleanliness