Report to the ... Zionist Congress and to the Council of the Jewish Agency in ... · 1935-08-01 · 8.1935 · p. Seite 471

ance also for the share due to Jewish labour on public works— it would not normally be possible to secure the requisite supply of Jewish labour for such works. The discussion of this important point has so far remained inconclusive. It is the intention of the Jewish Agency to place the question in the forefront of its discussions with the Government on the size of the next labour schedule, especially in view of the large expansion of the Government's building programme which is expected to take place in the course of the year. 3. In the meantime the Executive has found it necessary to take special steps to effect an immediate improvement in the situation without waiting for the remedy that may be brought about in the normal course of events by an increased labour supply. The Jewish Labour Federation having undertaken to recruit the labour required, . the Executive addressed an urgent plea to the Government to allot a few specified items on its programme to Jewish labour. In the light of the experience of the construction of the Mt. Tabor School and of other works, where undertakings given by private Jewish contractors to employ Jewish labour had been broken, the Executive expressly asked that these contracts be given to the Jewish Labour Federation, which it regarded as the only agency capable both of executing works on a large scale and of ensuring the employment of Jewish labour. As a result of the negotiations conducted by the Jewish Agency with the Central Government and the Department of Public Works, the Jewish Labour Federation was allotted two important contracts at rates not exceeding the average rates obtaining on Government contracts which are given out on a competitive basis. Several hundred Jewish workers were employed on these works and, although the Jewish Labour Federation found itself confronted with exceptional difficulties in its efforts to secure the necessary labour supply, the importance of the position thus regained, even within such limited scope, made the sacrifices involved worth while. VIII.—Sea Work. 1. The Political Department paid special attention to the need of securing for Jewish labour a firm position in the ports of Palestine. Negotiations were conducted with the Government with a view to enabling groups of Jewish'porters, stevedores and lightermen to establish themselves in port work. Special allotments of certificates were made for Jewish dockers and seamen from Salonica, who were successful in obtaining employment in the port of Haifa. The Jewish Labour Federation exercised much initiative and bore a large share of responsibility for all these efforts. The number of Jews employed in the port of Haifa has more than doubled in the last two years, but it still remains at a very low level in relation to the total labour force working in the port. A novel feature of development during the period under review was the appearance 471