As reported by "Globes," the cabinet today approved the proposal by the Ministry of Finance to import construction workers from China. The resolution stipulates that the quota for workers from China will be 20,000. According to the resolution, a two-year temporary order will be issued under which workers can be imported in addition to those already in Israel, until the quota is met, without any bilateral agreement between countries, as previously required. The vote in favor of the proposal was not unanimous, and the ministers discussed it for an hour.
Minister of the Interior Silvan Shalom and Minister of the Economy Aryeh Deri eventually voted against, but the resolution passed, and was also backed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The proposal that passed was the original version submitted with one change requested by Minister of Education Naftali Bennett: after two years, when the temporary order expires, the decision will be returned to the cabinet, which will reconsider the measure, taking into account what happens during the two years during which foreign workers arrive in Israel.
Other than the building contractors, the strongest supporters of the measure are Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon and housing cabinet chairman Avigdor Yitzhaki, who reached the conclusion that this is the way to increase the production of housing units in Israel. Under the cabinet resolution, 50% of the Chinese workers will be allowed to work on buyer fixed price projects.
Kahlon said today after the resolution was approved, "We have a great responsibility: to make sure that there are apartments for young couples. We therefore decided to add 20,000 trained Chinese workers to give a substantial boost to the supply of apartments in Israel. High-quality and trained personnel are a critical resource for increasing the supply to catch up with the demand for housing. I thank the prime minister for his support and backing and his deep commitment to solving the housing crisis."
The cabinet asserts that increasing the number of foreign workers will reduce the average time needed to construct high-rise buildings by 20-30%, an action that is expected to reduce the contractor's cost by NIS 50,000 per apartment.
Deputy Attorney General (Legislation) Adv. Orit Koren opposed the decision out of concern that mass importation of Chinese workers without an Israel-China bilateral agreement would allow serious violations of the Chinese workers' rights and encourage corruption in the Israel establishment. Deri also expressed opposition to the measure, among other things because it breaches the mechanism of bilateral agreements for importing foreign workers.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 20, 2015
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2015