A cheap Palestinian reserve army suppresses Israeli worker wages

Evidence

Palestinian labor boosts the profits of Israeli capitalists in multiple ways. Ibrahim Shikaki has shown how the Palestinian reserve army helps pacify the conflict between capital and labor in Israel by taking away bargaining power from Israeli workers. The construction of a pool of cheap Palestinian labor keeps the wages of Israeli workers in check. Moreover, Israeli employers pay Palestinians more than they could earn in the domestic economy, yet less than their Israeli counterparts, ensuring higher profits for Israeli businesses. As one owner put it in the newspaper Davar: “It is almost impossible to fire an Israeli worker or move him without his permission and wage increase. On the other hand an Arab worker is exceptionally mobile, he can be fired without notice and moved from one place to another. They don’t go on strike, they don’t make demands.” — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 327

Categorization

• CANDY: The Davar employer quote is a vivid, quotable illustration of how a docile cheap labor pool benefits capital.
• XREF: connects to: De-agrarianization turned self-employed Palestinians into wage workers in Israel, deepening dependency — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 326