Palestinians fired from SodaStream in Ramadan dispute did not receive hearings

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Written by Haim Bior Haim Bior

Published: 24 July 2014 24 July 2014

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               Palestinians fired from SodaStream in Ramadan dispute did not receive hearings

In violation of labor laws, 60 employees at West Bank plant were dismissed without written notice or preliminary hearings

By Haim Bior     | Jul. 24, 2014 | 6:23 AM

http://www.haaretz.com/business/1.606836

The 60 Palestinians who were fired earlier this month from the SodaStream plant in the West Bank settlement of Ma’aleh Adumim received verbal notice only prior to being axed and were not given pre-dismissal hearings, as required by law. In addition, they were barred from entering the factory even before receiving written notice of dismissal, which was the result of a dispute over the food provided by the company to break the day-long fast during the month of Ramadan.

The dispute began in early July, when Palestinians working the night shift at the factory that makes the popular home soda machines claimed that the food they received was insufficient and demanded larger rations. They had the support of WAC-MAAN, the independent trade union that represents them. When management did not answer their demands, employees said it would be difficult for them to work through the night without more substantial food. In response, the shift supervisor sent the workers home, telling them he was cancelling that day’s night shift.

The next day, a SodaStream executive called each worker and informed them that they were being terminated and must return their employee IDs and their uniforms. In a recording, obtained by TheMarker, of the call to Alaa Rawidi, the executive reads out a dismissal letter. It says the workers were terminated for refusing to return to work, an act that harmed the company. Rawidi was told that if he failed to return his uniform and ID immediately he would be charged 500 shekels ($145).

When Rawidi asks the executive why he wasn’t given the opportunity of a hearing, he is told: “Because of the seriousness of the matter, we will deliver a dismissal letter either to your home or by hand, whichever you prefer.”

WAC-MAAN director Assaf Adiv contacted SodaStream CEO Daniel Birnbaum this week and demanded that the workers be reinstated. Adiv argued that they were long-time employees with no major disciplinary infractions in the past. In a letter to Adiv, SodaStream VP Human Resources Mika Mazor rejected the demand, stating in part that the unplanned work stoppage caused “major economic damage” to the factor. In effect, she wrote, the employees carried out a “wild rebellion,” knowing they were disrupting work at the plant “without authority and contrary to instructions, while causing deliberate damage.” The workers’ conduct “bordered on violence,” Mazor said.

SodaStream has been targeted by foreign boycotts because of the factory’s location — in Mishor Adumuim, the industrial zone of Ma’aleh Adumim. Company officials have countered that the plant employs many Palestinians.

In a related case, Palestinian workers at the Zarfati garage in Mishor Adumim are striking to protest the firing of the garage’s union head. The WAC-MAAN coordinator for Jerusalem, Yoav Tamir, was arrested yesterday at the site for disturbing the peace.

Scaling the Heights of Hypocrisy

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Written by Gilbert Schramm Gilbert Schramm

Published: 24 July 2014 24 July 2014

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Scaling the Heights of Hypocrisy              by Gilbert Schramm

The ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza has unveiled new heights of Israeli hypocrisy. Yesterday I was especially struck by the bizarre Israeli government response to the FAA’s suspension of US flights into the Israeli war zone.

In the wake of the tragic downing of a Malaysian airliner in the Ukraine, any rational human being would hope that civilian airliners would avoid war zones. Au contraire!!! Israel is complaining vigorously against the suspension of US flights into Tel Aviv.

That’s right! After pleading to Americans all week about how intent he was on minimizing Palestinian civilian casualties as he conducts the vicious and unnecessary incursion into Gaza that has killed over 700 Palestine (75% civilian by UN reports), Netanyahu then demonstrated how little he really cares about potential Israeli, European and American civilians.

For in spite of a rocket landing only a mile or so from Israel’s Ben-Gurion International Airport, Israeli spokespeople railed against the FAA suspension of flights and insisted that the Airport was perfectly safe!  It is a supremely odd argument to make after the whole Israeli PR establishment has railed all week about the dire existential danger posed to the entire state of Israel by Hamas rockets.

I hope we can all agree on one thing: being in range of Hamas rockets (Tel Aviv is only 53 miles from Gaza) should certainly rule out any and all civilian air traffic unless and until there is a lasting peace in the area.

Yet Israeli officials were today stuck desperately making the case that the airport is one of the most secure places in Israel. There were rumors that Netanyahu himself pleaded with the US state department to reverse the FAA ruling. So it seems that Netanyahu is quite willing to openly place US civilians at risk. (Unless of course you are cynical enough to believe that he is just lying about the risk posed by Hamas rockets…)

The facts are clear—Netanyahu can no more guarantee the safety of a plane coming into or out of Israel than he can predict a lightning strike. Ben-Gurion Airport might well be safe from any Hamas ground attack, yet Israel certainly knows that a Hamas rocket could land anywhere almost anytime.

Now I’m sure that Hamas was not targeting the airport any more than it is really targeting Israeli civilians. It must take a good deal of planning to fire 2000 rockets in a few days and only kill 2 civilians (actually, one of them was delivering food to Israeli troops). If he had been on the other side he would have been labeled a “Hamas supporter” and therefore a terrorist.

But these nasty little wars all have unintended and sometimes quite unexpected consequences. For example, Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982 led to the creation of Hezbollah. The first Intifada in 1987 led to the first violent resistance against Israel by Hamas. Israel’s attack on Lebanon in 2006 made Hezbollah into a regional force.

Netanyahu’s “Protective Edge” operation has now exposed a vital flaw in Israel’s defenses.

From now on Hamas need not bother with trying to maintain the charade that it is trying to kill Israeli civilians. It can cripple Israel’s economy by merely claiming it is aiming rockets at the Ben-Gurion airport. First, the airport is a big enough target that even unguided Hamas rockets might (possibly) be able to come close to it regularly. The greater advantage is that you can probably hit it often without really hurting anybody. Finally, Israel set the precedent by bombing Lebanon’s airport in 2006.

Further, Israel has argued all week that the people of Gaza themselves are guilty for all the deaths that have clearly been caused by the Israeli attack. If that is true, then IF a chance Hamas rocket were to hit a plane coming into or out of Ben-Gurion international airport the victims—including the governments that permitted it and the airlines that participated— would have only themselves to blame!

So thanks to the unintended consequence of Netanyahu’s misguided war, he has handed Hamas a perfect strategy that will finally give them real leverage: the ability to close down Israel’s main air link to the world can cripple Israel’s high-tech industries, the produce industry, and the tourist industry virtually at will.  All of these, and doubtless many others, depend heavily on reliable air service. Ninety percent of Israel’s international air traffic goes through that one place. This jugular vein that Netanyahu’s policy has exposed will make Israel an increasingly risky place to invest in.

I predict that this event will emerge as a game changing moment. It will be interesting to see how Netanyahu addresses the issue going forward. Clearly, he would like the airport to remain open—even if it means placing US lives at risk to make Israel appear safe (or, as his spokesman put it, to avoid “giving a prize to terror.”

Will Israel continue to portray Hamas rockets as an enormous existential threat, or will Israel suddenly present itself, (as it started to do yesterday) as supremely safe and open for business as usual—thus exposing the threat of Hamas as a sham and thereby completely undermining Netanyahu’s rationale for inflicting massive civilian casualties in Gaza?

After all, you can’t have it both ways…at least not forever. In the meantime, I hope you will all join me in urging the FAA continue to suspend all US flights to Israel until there is a just, comprehensive and lasting peace in Palestine.

(Gilbert Schramm is a peace activist and international educator who lives in Oregon. He has studied Middle Eastern affairs for almost 35 years.)

An Open Letter to Senator Jeff Merkley

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Written by Gilbert Schramm Gilbert Schramm

Published: 23 July 2014 23 July 2014

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An Open Letter to Senator Jeff Merkley

July 22, 2014
By Gilbert Schramm

Senator Merkley,

As a former supporter of yours, I was angered and saddened to see your response to my concerns about the Gaza conflict. Your position is simply not good enough. It is cowardly and enables pointless Israeli violence. In view of the fact that you voted for S Res 498, I cannot view you as worthy of the distinguished leadership position that Oregonians have conferred on you. 

Like many progressives, I worked hard for your election. I will now suspend my work and contributions on your behalf—you clearly don’t have the good of our nation in focus.

Your statement decries the deaths on both sides, but the resolution you signed (S Res 498) is a one sided travesty that places a US seal of approval on the ongoing Israeli occupation and oppression of the Palestinian territories and the ongoing war crimes that are the direct result of that occupation.

The truth is that Israel is the guilty party here. This is a war of choice by Israel. Your statement misinforms your constituents by blurring that reality.

Read more: An Open Letter to Senator Jeff Merkley

Contact information for Oregon Members of Congress

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Written by Peter Miller Peter Miller

Published: 23 July 2014 23 July 2014

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Oregon Congressional Contacts

Updated July 14, 2014

To call your Member of Congress: US Capitol Switchboard (202) 224-3121.

President Obama:  (202) 456-1111   http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact

Senator Ron Wyden

http://www.wyden.senate.gov/contact/

Washington D.C         (202) 224-5244

Portland                      (503) 326-7525

911 NE 11th Ave., Suite 630, Portland, OR 97232

Senator Jeff Merkley

http://www.merkley.senate.gov/contact/

Washington D.C.        (202) 224-3753

Portland                      (503) 326-3386

121 SW Salmon Street, Suite 1400 Portland, OR 97204

Congressman Earl Blumenauer, Oregon 3rd District

https://forms.house.gov/blumenauer/webforms/issue_subscribe.html

Washington D.C.        (202) 225-4811

Portland                      (503) 231-2300

729 N.E. Oregon Street, Suite 115, Portland, OR 97232

Congressman Peter DeFazio, Oregon 4th District

http://defazio.house.gov/contact/contact-peter

Washington D.C.        202-225-6416 hours: M-F 9-5:30pm

Eugene                         541-465-6732 hours: M-F 8:00am-5:00pm

405 East 8th Ave., #2030, Eugene, OR 97401

Congressman Greg Walden, Oregon 2nd District

https://walden.house.gov/e-mail-greg

Washington D.C.        202-225-6730

Bend                            541-389-4408

1051 NW Bond St., Suite 400, Bend, OR 97701

Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici, Oregon 1st District

https://bonamici.house.gov/contact-me

Washington, D.C.       (202) 225-0855 Hours: M-F 9AM-5PM EST

Beaverton                    (503) 469-6010 Hours: Monday-Friday 9:00AM-5:00PM

Toll Free:                    (800) 422-4003

12725 SW Millikan Way, Suite 220, Beaverton, OR 97005

Congressman Kurt Schrader, Oregon 5th District

http://schrader.house.gov/contact/

Washington, D.C.       (202) 225-5711

Salem                           (503) 588-9100

544 Ferry Street SE, Ste 2, Salem, OR 97301