In a few days, the Economic Organizations Liaison Committee, chaired by Zvika Oren, and the Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) are due to sign a special collective agreement under which 3% of employees at a business with at least 100 employees must be employees with disabilities. Regulations for smaller employees will be drawn up later.
Histadrut chairman Avi Nissenkorn is considered the driving force behind the agreement, personally pushing it behind the scenes for two years. Sources familiar with the issue say that, in private, he said that this was one of his most important tasks, especially for Israeli society. The Liaison Committee and the Histadrut had planned to keep the agreement secret until a special press conference next week.
Currently, employment targets for workers with disabilities only apply to the government sector, and a bill sponsored by MK Iztik Shmuli (Labor), MK Robert Ilatov (Likud-Beiteinu), and MK Ilan Gilon (Meretz) only sought to require public entities to have 3% of their workforces comprising persons with disabilties.
Only 48% of people with disabilities have jobs, according to a letter sent by Ehud Rassabi, the president of Lahav Association of the Self Employed and chairman of Ilan Israel's Foundation for the Handicapped to the heads of employer organizations. There are 780,000 disabled people of working age in Israel.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 19, 2014
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