Home nursery workers demonstrated in Jerusalem Sept. 1, part of a one-day strike demanding higher pay and better work conditions. The action was organized by the National Union of Day Care Workers, which has some 3,000 members — predominantly Jewish and Arab women — who run nurseries in their homes for children 3 years old and younger that are funded and supervised by the government. The union is part of the Koach la Ovdim (Workers Power) union federation.
Workers say their pay hasn’t been raised in 13 years, despite rising prices. According to the union, the government recently increased the cost for parents by some 740 shekels a month ($214). But due to government manipulation of tax rates, the average child care worker will only take home an additional 60 shekels.
The government tells parents that “there is no choice, you have to pay more tuition so that the nannies get paid more,” child care worker Ninet Sasson, a leader of the union, told the media. “But where does the parents’ money really go? Not to us!”
“Some of us will lose 200 shekels a month because of the trick they did with the change in taxation,” she said.
The union says that those who run the centers aren’t treated as either workers or contractors. They earn less than the minimum wage per hour, while being subject to all kinds of government regulations, including staying open 11 hours a day.