May Day 2014 celebrations in Gaza Strip: The Democracy and Workers’ Rights Center and the Independent Labor Committees Union – Gaza Strip (ILCU) and other independent unions celebrated May Day in the streets of Gaza city with thousands of workers, raising slogans for a national strategy to end Israeli occupation, the siege on Gaza, reduce unemployment and improve the standard of living. A joint memorandum endorsed by DWRC, ILCU, and the union blocs of leftists political factions was submitted to the Legislative Council in Gaza, praising the national reconciliation deal and calling for the rescinding of all unconstitutional laws and regulations adopted throughout the period of the political split. In particular, the memorandum requested the prompt cancelation of two laws that have been adopted in the Gaza Strip and violate workers’ rights and freedoms, the Union Law no 2 of the year 2013 that entered in force on 12/6/2013, which severely restricts freedom of association and the right to organize, and the Civil Law no 4 of the year 2012, which by its articles 414-795 imposes an extremely short statute of limitation for filing cases in court in order to reclaim labor rights.
May Day in Palestine [Building & Woodworkers International]: PGFTU-Palestine reports that it commemorated May 1st in the city of Ramallah. Thousands of workers from the various districts of the Palestinian West Bank and Jerusalem participated in the demonstration and festival. The event was also attended by ministers, members of congress, and representatives of the various national and trade union leaderships.
Intl Workers’ Day: No Cause for Celebration for Palestinians Working in Israel [B’Tselem]: Tomorrow, 1 May, marks International Workers’ Day. For Palestinian workers, there is not much cause for celebration: the day is a painful reminder that another year has gone by and nothing has changed. Palestinians are still denied basic rights, including the right to earn a living without risking their lives.
On Int’l Workers’ Day: Low Average Real Wages in the Private Sector [Palestine News Network]: Ola Awad, President of Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), presents the current status of Palestinian labour force during 2013.
AUSPalestine 