Palestinian employers use tricks to pay only 1/3 minimum wage, reveals trade union leader

Secretary-General of the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions Shaher Sa'ad: “We have reached an agreement on a minimum wage of 1,880 [Israeli] shekels, and it will be implemented on Jan. 1, 2022… There has been a minimum wage since Jan. 1, 2013 that is 1,450 shekels, [but] the minimum wage has not been implemented. There are also female workers [earning only] 500 shekels a month and 600 shekels a month… There will be a list of sanctions and fines. Whoever does not implement the minimum wage needs to be punished according to the law… There are many tricks to bypass the minimum wage… [The workers] receive the 1,450 shekels with their right [hand] and give part of it [back] with their left [hand to their employer]. How? It could be that the worker will receive 1,450 shekels, take 800 shekels from it, and return the rest to the employer.”