UN workers in Palestine on strike
03 February 2014
PSI has written to UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, to express concern about the labour dispute between the management of the United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA) in Palestine and its local employees.
Despite numerous meetings between the union representatives and the UNRWA management agency, no suitable solution was found and the dispute ended in a strike which has now been going on for more than 48 days. 30 workers have now been on a hunger strike for 23 days and many of them have been transferred to hospitals in a critical state.
The main demands of the workers are:
- Wage equality between the workers of the West Bank and the rest of the regions, particularly the Gaza Strip where there is a wage difference of 11%;
- The reintegration of 55 dismissed workers;
- The reintegration of 5 workers who were dismissed as a result of their arrest by Israeli authorities;
- The implementation of international labour standards, especially within the International Agency for Refugees.
PSI is calling on UN authorities to reopen dialogue with the union in order to find a solution to the situation, to reintegrate all trade union members who were dismissed and to implement international labour standards to secure human and trade union rights in the country.
At the same time, PSI expressed solidarity with the Palestinian trade unions and supports them in their struggle.
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