Outrage over ad pricing cleaners by ethnicity

A flier offering cleaning services with differential pricing based on the ethnicity of workers has drawn charges of racism after it was discovered in Tel Aviv over the weekend.

The flier, first reported on by political blogger Tal Schneider on Friday, purports to find a solution for people looking for a legally documented cleaner, but one who is not Arab, for security reasons.

According to the ad, a cleaner of African origin costs NIS 49 ($12.69) an hour, while one of Eastern European origin is priced at an hourly rate of NIS 52 ($13.39).

The highest hourly rate of NIS 69 ($17.77) is for an Eastern European cleaner with an Israeli citizenship.

“The blatant racism is permeating Israeli society, pricing workers by race,” wrote Schneider in her post.

According to Channel 2 News, a reporter called the number advertised in the flier, only to be answered by a woman with broken Hebrew who confirmed the differential pricing, saying that she doesn’t influence the prices, but that “Eastern European workers are in fact better.”