Gaza laborers protest government cutbacks
Union says Palestinian unity government canceled health insurance for 80,000 workers
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleTamar Pileggi is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.
Dozens of laborers in Gaza demonstrated outside the Palestinian unity government’s Gaza City cabinet headquarters Tuesday, in protest of what they say is government neglect of labor rights.
According to the head of the General Union of Workers, Sami al-Amsi, the sit-in protest came after the unity government canceled development programs and health insurance for 80,000 workers, the Palestinian news agency Ma’an reported.
Al-Amsi said that the sit-in protest was intended to raise awareness of the ramifications the cutbacks may have.
The strike comes amid growing unrest over the uncertain future facing 50,000 employees of the former Hamas-run government who have not been paid since the Palestinian unity government was established in June.
Last week, hundreds of Hamas civil servants in Gaza began a sit-in strike in front of the Palestinian unity government’s headquarters protesting the unpaid wages.
Since the signing of the political unity agreement between Hamas and Fatah, Hamas has been demanding the new government pay the salaries of the 50,000 civil servants it hired after its takeover of the enclave in 2007, taking the jobs of 70,000 Fatah workers in Gaza.
The Times of Israel Community.