The ministerial legislative committee today approved a bill introduced by MK Eli Cohen (Kulanu) to legislate a long weekend. Under the bill, employees will begin enjoying a long weekend from Thursday afternoon until Monday morning six times a year in 2017. The six long weekends will shorten the work week by one hour, since the number of work hours will be reduced by 8.5 hours over two months.
Students' study days will remain unchanged, because two of the six free Sundays will come during the summer vacation, and four more will come during the Passover and Hanukah school vacations.
The long weekend proposal was inspired by the long hours worked by Israelis, compared with other countries. The average work week in Israel is 43 hours, compared with an average of 40 hours or less in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) members. In addition to a negative effect on workers' welfare and their ability to balance work with their families and private lives, the advocates of the bill say the longer hours have a negative impact on labor productivity in Israel, which is considered one of the lowest in the OECD.
Cohen's initiative has won support from across the political spectrum and from the Ministry of Finance but economic leaders and the Manufacturers Association has wanted the move linked to higher productivity. Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) chairman Avi Nissenkorn called for work hours to be shortened to 40 hours a week, as in the OECD, beyond Cohen's proposal.
Cohen's bill will begin a preliminary reading in the Knesset later this week.
The plan is to eventually expand the number of Sundays off to 12 in the coming years.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 26, 2016
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