| A bill to make Eilat an exception and define an allocation for the employment of foreign workers in the hotel industry will be brought before the Israeli government for approval, with the support of the Minster of Tourism, Ruhama Avraham-Belila, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Employment, rabbi Eli Yishai, and the Minister of Interior, Meir Sheetrit. This was decided last week in a discussion held in the office of the general director of the Ministry of Tourism, Shaul Tzemach, in which the mayor of Eilat, Meir Itzhak Halevi, the general director of the Eilat Hotels Association, Shabi Shai, Isrotel's director of human resources chain-wide, Dovid Blum, and a representative of the Israel Hotels Association participated.
The representatives of the hoteliers spoke about the great lack of menial workers and the need to define an allocation of foreign workers because of the difficulty in recruiting an Israeli workforce. The mayor reiterated the matter, and said that an allocation for foreign workers has to be set alongside continuing to give incentives for Israeli workers.
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This proposal won the support of the bureau's general director as well as the support of the general director of the Employment Service, Pirchi Yosi and, as mentioned, it will be brought up for government approval with the ministers' support. The general director of the Ministry of Employment on his part promised that until the allocation is passed, stations will be opened in employment offices around the country to direct work to Eilat and that the office will re-examine ‘Operation Uvda' which was once proposed as a part of encouraging employment in Eilat and included a benefits basket.
It may be remembered that in a discussion the mayor held with the Minister of Industry Trade and Employment, rabbi Eli Yishai, about two months ago, the mayor told the minister of the big problem with the lack of foreign workforce in the tourism industry and the difficulty of recruiting personnel for jobs that until recently had been filled by foreign workers before cancellation of the allocation by the government.
It might be noted that the gap had been filled in recent months by Sudanese and other African asylum seekers. However, in recent weeks there has been an active campaign to remove most of these people from the city.
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