Workers of the religious councils (photo: Public Relations)
Strengthen religious services in Israel: In the background of the coalition negotiations on the formation of the new government, the religious council workers gathered to discuss their low wages and to call on the heads of the political parties to include the issue of religious services in the coalition agreements.
"People don't understand that the kashrut reform was a beginning that ended with the closing of the religious councils and making them irrelevant," began Moshe Dagan, chairman of the religious council in Haifa, who previously served as CEO of the Chief Rabbinate and deputy director of the Ministry of Religious Services.
The discussion was held as part of seminar days for religious council employees organized by the division The religious branch of the Histadrut is headed by attorney Rafi Malachi and the director of the division Rabbi Yaniv Shapira.
In the special panel that discussed the status and salary of religious council workers, MK Yaakov Margi, Moshe Dagan, chairman of the Council of Israel in Haifa, Benny Elharar, chairman of the Council of Israel in Bat Yam, Eldad Mizrahi, chairman of the Council of Israel in Tel Aviv, participated. Jaffa, Moshe Idan Chairman of the Council of Bnei Brak and Uriah Baruchi Cohen Yo
The panel, led by media person Yaakov Grodka, was intended to discuss ways of dealing with the issue of the salaries of religious council employees.
According to the official salary data of the Ministry of Finance, the employees of the religious councils are at the bottom of the salary table of the public service, and most of them are forced to receive a supplement to the minimum wage.
"This institution called the Religious Council is the backyard of the State of Israel and the governments in recent years," said Eldad Mizrahi, chairman of the religious council in Tel Aviv.
According to him: the status of the workers in the religious councils has eroded in a sick way and someone here needs to do a home inspection.
If the workers have to strike, let them sit.
These are matters at the core of Judaism."
MK Margi, who participated in the discussion, shared with those present his experience at the Ministry of Religious Services and said that "this is a great pain.
We started a process that included improving the service and the next step was supposed to be handling the salaries of the religious council employees, and at this point the process stopped and in the last year the situation of the employees even worsened.
It is not possible that the employees of the religious councils are leading in the rating of service to the citizen and are at the bottom of the salary table of the public service.
The workers of the religious councils must be part of the coalition agreement."
The heads of the other religious councils and the workers of the religious councils who were present at the scene also emphasized the pain and the feeling of humiliation. "How is it possible that the Albanians cannot go on sick leave because there is no budget for a replacement worker," wondered Oria Baruchi Cohen, the chairman of the council. D. Negev fields. "The wages of the workers are disgraceful, and the rabbis of the settlements also earn a very meager salary," she said.
The leaders of the religious division of the Histadrut who were present at the venue, shared with the audience the contacts they had with the Treasury and the leaders of the parties and said that the leaders of the Histadrut are also determined to join the struggle.
"Employees of the religious councils will be the Histadrut's top priority in the upcoming wage agreement," said attorney Rafi Malachi, chairman of the Histadrut's religious division.
After a long and in-depth discussion, it was decided to establish a struggle headquarters that would include the religious division in the Histadrut, and the religious councils' workers committee headed by Shalom Bidani and the workers' representatives.
"We call on all the leaders of the ultra-orthodox and religious parties to take responsibility and fight to include the issue of religious councils and workers in the coalition agreement. It is impossible in a Jewish state to disrespect the most basic religious services and mikvah," said Yaniv Shapira, director of the religious division of the Histadrut.
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