2023-10-12 14:02:18
The essential food factories in Israel are experiencing a severe shortage of workers as a result of the fighting, which may harm Israel’s food security – so warns the chairman of the Histadrut Food and Pharmaceutical Workers’ Union, Eliezer Bello. In a conversation with ‘Davar’, Bello calls on the government to come to its senses: “Most Israeli food is produced in Israel. Woe betide us if we become dependent on imports. Unless the state comes to its senses and allows new workers to be recruited, things will not change.”
“The situation at the moment is that the food factories in the south are working at 50-60% output,” says Blue, “large food factories located in the Sderot industrial area are not working at the moment. There is a problem with the supply of milk from the Eshkol area, because there are dairy farms there. There is a lack of workers in the factories, because there are no workers are showing up for work and it is understandable, many have left their homes, both in the northern region and in the area surrounding Gaza. Blue warns that if these factories do not return to work 100 percent, there may be a shortage.”
According to Blue, it is not only the lack of workers that affects production: “This week, terrorists landed with a surfboard in the Ashkelon industrial area, near a large and well-known factory for the production of beverages. The workers were in the factory on night shift. Now there are concerns about the workers working there at night, so the night shifts there were stopped and production was reduced.” .
Eliezer Blue, Chairman of the Food and Pharmaceutical Workers’ Union (Photo: Elise Azuelos)
As an example, he tells about a product that is found in almost every home – the flakes. “Their main production takes place at the factory in Sderot. It is an essential commodity. The company is doing everything to activate these emergency lines because it is an essential product, but it is not succeeding, because most of the workers live in Sderot and the surrounding area and people were evacuated from there, and some workers were recruited or injured.”
“If a production manager at a baby food factory was recruited by order 8 and they are not ready to release her, a solution should be found for this recruitment”
The food factories have the option of submitting a request that their employees not be drafted into the reserves, but according to Bello, the submitted requests are not answered. “Baby food is the most important food, and if a production manager at a baby food factory was recruited by order 8 and they are not ready to release her, then a solution to this recruitment must be found, because baby food cannot be in short supply in the State of Israel.”
According to him, “We are trying through assistance from the Ministry of Economy to try and bring about the fact that workers in core and very important positions in the essential production plants will be released from Order 8, and we have no assistance from the Ministry of Economy and the companies are not receiving a response either. We are simply shocked by this.”
“There needs to be a voice calling on the Ministry of Economy to intervene, and to assist the food companies in releasing essential workers to factories so that they can continue production. These factories are the food security of the State of Israel and woe betide us if we end up lacking in this matter.”
Beyond the production difficulties, there is also a problem with the supply of the products. “There are goods in the warehouses and they deliver, but we also have a problem with supplies because the entire distribution system also works at fifty percent. There is a great difficulty in transporting the food products by the food companies, because quite a few drivers have been recruited. In the battle zone it is difficult to deliver goods because the army does not always give permission “.
“Another difficulty is workers who don’t show up to arrange shelves in supermarkets, and that’s why you see a lot of empty shelves. All this at the same time that the public has significantly increased its consumption in shopping.”
The food factories also face a shortage of raw materials that are imported through neighboring countries. “A huge and well-known canning factory in the Gilboa Regional Council depends on the import of raw products from the Jordan River border crossing,” he says, “Israeli customs operates there, but the crossings authority closed it on the Israeli side and they cannot bring the raw materials in. They also produce essential products. So There are trucks that are stuck there, unable to get in and unload. We are also trying to help here as a trade union.”
Transferring workers from the construction industry to essential enterprises
One of the solutions to the lack of workers comes from bringing in foreign workers from the construction industry to work temporarily in essential factories. Following the employers’ request, the Population and Immigration Authority and the Ministry of Labor announced yesterday the regulation of foreign workers from the construction industry who are not employed at the construction sites in the combat zones, for factories providing existential services and essential factories.
Blue tells the speaker that another solution that came up is to recruit agricultural workers from the area surrounding Gaza, where agricultural activity has been shut down, for the emergency work. “These are both foreign workers and Israelis who are not working at the moment, and they can be moved to work in the essential food factories.”
According to Bello, the transfer of workers between factories with the backing and financial support of the state will allow continued food production. “Not all production workers must be skilled workers, and this is a completely realistic scenario.”
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