Report to the ... Zionist Congress and to the Council of the Jewish Agency in ... · 1935-08-01 · 8.1935 · p. Seite 309

Works Department two important contracts for more than £70,000; the construction of reservoirs for the Jerusalem Water supply between Ras-el-Ein and Jerusalem and the building of a main road between Herzlia-Raanana and the railway station at Magdiel. The managers of the Central Labour Bureau were able to obtain new immigrants for both undertakings—apart from a number of technical workers—and about 400 persons are now employed on them. The Works Department thought itself justified in expending £500 on the training of new immigrants for these Government works in order to enable the Central Labour Bureau to secure a footing anew in these works. The Palestine Government intends inviting tenders for public works on a rather large scale, and it will be our task to watch over our claims to our share in these undertakings, which the Government itself has fixed at onethird of its public works as a whole. In the year 1934 the percentage of Jewish labour employed on Government works was only 7\ according to the number of workdays, and 19 per cent, according to the wages paid. In calculating the wages the salaries of mechanics and other highly qualified workers are also included. III.—Labour Disputes. 1. Strikes and Lock-outs. In the year 1934 there were 11,313 days of strikes and 6,749 days of lock-outs in the Jewish labour market, that is, a total of 18,062 days of suspension of work. Fifty per cent, of these days were due to demands for increased wages occasioned by the increased cost of living. The 18,062 days of suspension of work were distributed among the following branches : Building trade, 6,300 days; Industry, 8,200; and manual trades, 3,500. The big strikes which resulted in lock-outs took place in the building trade in Haifa and in the textile trade in Tel-Aviv. In both of these cases and in several other strikes a settlement was achieved with the aid of the Jewish Agency and the leaders of the Vaad Leumi. The number of strike days that were ended by settlement was 9,895. 2. Intervention in Labour Disputes. (a) Disputes in connection with picketing against Arab labour in the colonies. In various colonies there were, as already mentioned, protracted disputes in connection with the employment of Arab labourers in places which had hitherto adhered to the principle of Jewish labour, particularly at Kfar Saba. In the course of the summer months of 1934 deputations of our national organisations visited the plantation owners at Kfar Saba in order to win them back to the principle of Jewish labour, but all efforts were in vain. The Labour Department secured the settlement of similar cases in other places, for example, at Kfar-Ganim. The Department was 3°9