This year, after 17 years of silence, the social workers in Israel remembered they too have rights worth defending. They went on a long overdue strike in the hopes of awakening the public to the injustice being done to the social welfare system.

To many, the premise of the strike seemed like all others- public workers demanding higher pay. But in reality, it was not only a battle for much deserved higher wages for workers in the public sector but was primarily a battle over a larger issue in the private sector.

Currently, almost a third of social workers in Israel are employed in private non- governmental organizations (NGO's) and the number is consistently growing. Lacking a collective organized voice, these employees have no guarantees to receive basic salary or hopes of any benefits.

During the strike, the Social Workers Union demanded not only higher salaries to it's slowly diminishing public sector workers, but a collectiveagreement that would cover social workers in private organizations as well. In addition, they began to fight in the hopes of ending the privatization of social services in general. 

But what is privatization and why is it so bad?

Israel, along with other Western governments, has been slowly abandoning the classic “welfare state” model in favor of privatization. In this process, NGO's are relied on to provide for the citizens' welfare, taking the responsibility out of government hands. While this move is thought to provide diverse services, allow competition and be economically beneficial to the government, one cannot help but question whether our citizens are being sacrificed for these theoretical goals.

Looking back at history starting from England's Poor Laws of 1601, we've come a long way in understanding the need to assist those who cannot help themselves. Around the world, Democratic welfare states in the last decade accepted the socio- democratic notion that it is the government's responsibility to provide the essential basics to its citizens; a bare minimum living standard. Furthermore and most importantly, that this is an inherent right of the citizen. The hope is to create a society of mutual responsibility and solidarity.

Over the last 25 years, however, there has been a neo- liberal ideology change in these same countries; moving in the direction of full privatization of social services.Ronald Reagan in 1980 famously exclaimed ‪“I am confident we can get government off our backs and out of our pockets.” 

Israel may be following the path of other strong democratic countries like the US, but how are these changes affecting its citizens? 

Last year, The International Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development found Israel to have the highest poverty rate in the developed world (2.5 times the average) and the second-highest gap between rich and poor.

Reality may answer this question better then any economic theory ever can. Our citizens are suffering, solidarity and cohesiveness are at an all time low and poverty rates are getting higher every year. What may be good for the rest of the free world may not be good for our little country.

Why are we only feeling the effects now? According to statistics, NGO's only receive 50% funding from the government while the rest is subsidized by good willed philanthropists. However, due to the economic situation over the past few years, this has become a much less reliable source, which explains why many non- profits are now being forced to close.

In a nut shell: privatization has taken the responsibility for the welfare of our citizens out of government's hands and thrusted it into the hands of NGO's. These NGO's are now suffering from lack of funds and closing. How do we feel this? We no longer get the services we need and deserve.

The social workers' strike this year hoped to expose this issue to the public; to remind the public that Israel IS a welfare state and should therefore be acting like one. Those feeling the immediate effects of privatization are the social workers because they bear the burden of increased social services in the private sector.

Soon, a majority of social workers will be in the private sector but will be unable to fight for wages that fit their qualification and standard of work because they are not unionized. Furthermore, they have no bargaining chip. The agreement that was reached did not include workers in the private sector as they had demanded, but gave them a base minimum salary instead. This almost guarantees that they will remain at the same minimum wage salary for much of their career and will be unable to demand necessary benefits. The social workers are stuck in a system that is bad for the public and is even worse for them.

Though privatizing is becoming popular in other countries around the world, it is not necessarily beneficial in Israel. We must tailor a system that will work best for our citizens in order to ensure the continuation of a free democratic country in which citizens who both provide and receive services are able to live with dignity and prosper.