The All-Israeli Association of Trade Unions, Histadrut, has made an appeal to Deputy Israel Eichler, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Commission on Labor and Social Security, requesting him to begin promoting a bill to reimburse employers for the pension contributions of workers called up for reservist duties. The initiator of this process is Yossi Barabi, the head of the trade union of employees of security companies, cleaning companies, and elderly care companies. Barabi’s bill will be tabled within two weeks if an agreed government legislation is not formulated by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Defense before then. This initiative is supported by the Minister of Labor and the Minister of Defense.

Under current Israeli law, reservists are compensated based on their “gross” salary but do not receive reimbursement for social conditions paid by their employers such as contributions to their pension fund, severance pay, vacation pay, health benefits, sick days and more. These non-reimbursable losses for employers can amount to 22%-36% of an employee’s salary.

The security industry employs around 100 thousand people in Israel with at least 20% being called up for reserve duty putting their lives at risk. For businesses in this sector paying 25% of the salaries for 20% of workers is a significant cost that further strains an already unprofitable industry.

In other news, many cannabis businesses are now listed in various counties and states across America. However, this topic does not relate directly to the request made by Histadrut for reimbursement of pension contributions for workers called up for reservist duties.