In a parliamentary commission on health and social security convened on Tuesday, February 13, there was a thorough discussion on the plea of the social workers’ union representatives. They requested a delay in the implementation of the second phase of payments under the agreement on social workers’ salaries. The second phase of the payment involves around 200 million shekels. The proposal is to split this payment into two halves, with the first half being disbursed before the culmination of 2024 and the final payment made at the end of 2025.
The meeting took off with the representatives from the Ministry of Social Security announcing the creation of 510 new roles for social workers in municipalities and evacuation centers. This move is part of an ongoing tradition among Israeli officials, where they typically initiate such meetings with positive news to mitigate any potential criticism. However, this announcement failed to impress everyone present at the meeting.
Adding to the conversation, the deputy director of the mental health center in Beersheba mentioned that since “Black Saturday” on October 7, there have been no disbursements of salaries or any funds from the state. In light of this, the social workers union is urgently demanding the state to disburse the NIS 200 million as promised in the wage agreement. The union justifies this demand by pointing out the increasing need to hire more social workers to manage the growing workload caused by the war.
The Ministry of Social Security, however, countered this argument by stating that the issue is not the absence of rates, but the shortage of manpower, particularly in municipal social services. According to them, only 86% of the available rates for social workers in social services departments of municipalities and local councils are staffed. They also revealed that a total of 905 social rates are available for social workers nationwide. Additionally, they shared data indicating that less than 10% of current students pursuing social work studies envision themselves working in the public social security system.
