Political report of the Executive of the Jewish Agency submitted to the ... Zionist Congress and the ... session of the Council of the Jewish Agency · 1937-08-01 · 8.1937 · p. Seite 56

58 elusion that Government is prepared to avail itself of their services only when it has no other choice left?" Lengthy negotiations followed with the several Government authorities concerned : the Port Manager, the Director of Customs, the Treasurer, the Chief Secretary and the High Commissioner. Finally, the request of the Jewish Agency that a group of Jewish workers should be engaged as one unit and assigned a definite volume of employment, to be remunerated at piece rates, was conceded. A great deal of time was then spent in determining this volume of employment and in devising a formula for the calculation of piece rates. Agreement was finally reached in December 1936, and the General Federation of Jewish Labour was entrusted with the organisation of the work. The rates at which the work was accepted were 10% less than the fees collected by the Government from the users of the service on the basis of the wages of Arab labour. A group of about 100 Jewish workers commenced work as porters in Government employ in January, thus breaking the last barrier against Jewish labour in the port of Haifa. The group has shown a high degree of adaptability to the new work and by dint of cooperative effort, the use of modern appliances and the introduction of improved technique has raised the level of workmanship in the Haifa harbour. 75. Strenuous efforts were also made to increase the Jewish personnel on the railways, but in this sphere no success can be recorded. Here again the Jewish Agency had warned the Government before the disturbances that the fact that the Jews formed only about 8% of the total personnel constituted a serious menace to the security of the service in times of political crisis. The warning was soon to be justified by the facts. In August 1936, the pressure of the agitators on the Arab railway personnel to join the strike gained strength and considerable numbers of them left work, causing a serious dislocation of the railway system. The Jewish Agency then offered the Government the services of a number of skilled Jewish railwaymen whom it had drawn to Haifa to be in readiness. No use, however, was made of the services of these men though their presence in Haifa was undoubtedly one of the factors which caused the Arab strikers to return to work. The August crisis on the railways brought about a complete breakdown of railway porterage. Jewish labour stepped into the breach and ensured the uninterrupted maintenance of porterage service at the main stations. After