GENEVA, Sept 27 (Askume) – A group of 10 global unions filed a complaint with the International Labour Organization on Friday, accusing Israel of violating global treaties by its treatment of Palestinian workers since the start of the Gaza war.
The Geneva-based United Nations labour agency’s criticism of Israel’s treatment of Palestinian workers has been under scrutiny for decades since the start of the October 7 war .
The complaint, outlined in a statement to reporters, centered on Israel’s expulsion of about 200,000 Palestinian migrant workers on security grounds . This would require paying them and other Palestinian workers wages and other compensation, which unions say could amount to billions of dollars.
“Palestinians working in Israel have suddenly become unemployed, pushing millions into poverty,” said Stephen Cotton, general secretary of the London-based International Transport Workers Union, one of the unions that signed the complaint.
“Israel must comply with its international legal obligations and ensure that these workers receive their due wages immediately,” Cotton said.
Israel has accused Hamas of treating Palestinian workers as oppressors and says the terror group has targeted transit routes since the October 7 attack, which killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostage.
Israel’s offensive on Hamas-ruled territory has so far killed more than 40,000 Palestinians and displaced nearly 2.3 million, leading to famine, according to the local health ministry.
The unions filing the complaint said they represent about 207 million workers in a variety of industries, including restaurants, agriculture and industry, in more than 160 countries.
Other union groups that signed the suit include Education International and the International Construction and Lumber Workers Organization.
The groups accuse Israel of violating the 1949 Wage Protection Agreement, which has been ratified by Israel and nearly 100 other countries, according to the UN agency’s website.
Under ILO rules, the organization can set up a so-called tripartite commission made up of governments, employers and worker groups to investigate alleged violations of the convention. This could eventually lead to investigations or even sanctions, as happened in Myanmar in the 1990s.
