Preferred job for veterans "I've been warning for years, it's about security needs!"

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry Haifa and the North, in cooperation with the Council of Carriers and Drivers, appealed to the Minister of Defense, Benny Gantz, with a request to make the profession of truck driver a preferred job

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry sent a letter with a request to the Minister of Defense, Benny Gantz, requesting to make the profession of truck driver a preferred job. The request comes against the background of a severe shortage of truck drivers, which causes security and economic damage. Making the profession a "preferred job" and the stipend they receive after a period of work, the applicants hope, will attract young people who are released from the IDF to join work in the field and fill the gap.

The opening of the new ports will reduce the heavy loads in the existing ports, but there is no solution to the huge shortage of heavy vehicle drivers, Shortage of about 5000 drivers! This creates a serious conflict between security needs and vital economic needs. This difficult problem existed even before the corona crisis, which was also reflected in the unprecedented loads in Israel's ports, when soon another load is expected to be added to this, which is expected to worsen the problem significantly, with the opening of the new ports in Haifa and Ashdod.

An inevitable "bottleneck".

In a letter to Defense Minister Benny Gantz, it is claimed that the Gulf Port, which is planned to open for activity this coming September, will be able to absorb some of the demand, which is currently causing ships to wait to enter the Haifa port, however "bottleneck"The expected is theThe great shortage of truck drivers. The increase in demand for products in Israel creates a situation in which the situation of heavy vehicle drivers will be exacerbated by competition:

Between the essential current needs to transport goods, and the needs to transport products for the benefit of the state's security needs.

The ministers of the government and the ministers of defense and finance, headed by them, must act quickly to radically change this serious situation"
This is what the President of the Bureau, David Castel, and the Chairman of the Council of Carriers and Drivers, Gabi Ben Harosh, who is also a member of the Board of Directors and discussed the problem with the members of the Board in a stormy meeting last week, claim. The leaders in a joint appeal to the Minister of Defense, Benny Gantz, to recognize that this is an extremely urgent security need. This, after many years of activity by the Council of Carriers and Drivers to create a drastic change in the situation of heavy vehicle drivers, yielded limited achievements, which are not at all satisfactory.

There is an identity in training and interests between the civilian and the military

According to them, there is an identity of interests absolute Between the civilian transport industry and the military transport industry, including in an integrated training system for heavy vehicle driving professions in both fields. Cooperation between the two sectors and necessary and rapid legislative changes will enable the encouragement of the choice of the driving profession among conscripts and subsequently their absorption in the civilian economy, which is in desperate need of drivers.

A central issue in the required changes is the certification of the heavy vehicle driving profession asFavorite job" for veterans, which may create a significant change already in the short term and of course in the long term. The need for this recognition is no less than the need for such recognition for work in industrial plants, certainly no less than the need for preferential work at gas stations, where the workers today spend most of their time as salespeople in the adjacent convenience stores.

Although the issue was brought up in the past in the Knesset and the government - no approval was received, due to objections from government officials, led by the National Insurance Institute.

Gabi Ben Harosh, Chairman of the Council of Carriers and Drivers, messaged Lahi Pa - the News Corporation:

None of the members of the public should think that he is doing anyone a favor, these are our security needs, the army is not prepared in the land and logistical field for war. I am a Yom Kippur graduate, I evacuated dozens of young people and the dead, because we had a shortage of ammunition. The situation has not changed and even worsened, what happened in all the recent operations is that we were in the same predicament.

"I've been warning for years"

"On the subject of manpower, I have been warning for several years. Soldiers are released from the IDF and go to gas stations, they sit in stores to sell, is this a preferred profession? Is anyone sane in this country? We want to give those young people a profession, they will be able to work an organized job with a pension and various benefits. Apart from that, I suggest that every driver who stays with us for a year or a year and a half get a grant, we have a heavy shortage of years and must solve it urgently."

Who will operate the ports?

"In about two months, a new port will open in Haifa, ships will arrive that contain 2 or 3 times more containers than we are used to in Israel, the state is investing billions in the development of the ports. But wait, excuse me, who will operate these ports that will work 24 hours?

No one contradicts the alarming data I present, but where is the execution? We kept contacting the generals in the IDF about this, but what's the problem, after two years a general leaves for another position, no one has really advanced the problem. Everyone told me yes yes and then he was released and the next one comes after him and we start from the beginning.

Where are the conclusions of the investigations, which is the lack of positions, now they use members of minorities but it is impossible to employ them in security positions, this is not a way to fill the lack", concludes Gav in frustration.

Favorite job

In section 174 of the National Insurance Law, Favorite job וwork required It is the work of those who have completed service in the IDF and national service in a variety of professions defined by law, after having worked for six full months.

The employee interested in receiving the grant must start his work within the first year of his release, and finish it within two years of the end of his mandatory service. In a preferred job, the employee is entitled toOne-time grant. The grant is paid by theSocial Security Institution. (according to Wikipedia)

The grant amount has been updated and now stands at 9,722 NIS (as of January 2020).

It can be assumed that the combination of the one-time grant amount, together with the lack of work experience that those veterans usually have, may encourage them to choose a preferred job of this type.