The Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved on Sunday Member of Knesset (MK) Eli Cohen's draft bill, which would provide six annual long weekends that start on Thursday evening and end on Monday morning, to Israeli workers, starting in 2017. The legislation comes on the background of efforts to shorten the work week to that of other OECD states. The draft bill has the support of Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon.

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The bill is expected to pass a preliminary reading in Knesset and has the support of the government coalition. A team of ministers will be formed to reach an agreement on the implementation process. During Sunday's discussion, a disagreement broke out—Kahlon demanded that he head the team of ministers, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that he be that person. In the end, the draft bill was approved, and it was resolved that the identity of the head of the team of ministers would be decided at the forum of the party chairmen.

Six long weekends will shorten the work week by one hour or 8.5 hours every two months. According to the draft bill, the number of school days will not change, because two of the day will take place during summer vacation, and four other days will be subtracted from Passover and Hanukkah vacations.

Will Israelis have additional vacation days next year? (Photo: The Kinneret Authority)

The draft bill passed with the cooperation of the "Parents for Coordinated Vacations with their Children", which expressed its support for the initiative and argued that it is a first step toward synchronizing parents and children's vacation.

The initiative has garnered the support of Netanyahu's coalition and Kahlon. Histadrut (labor union) Chairman Avi Nissenkorn, who supports the long weekend initiative, called for the shortening of daily work hours either through Cohen's proposal or by holding Israel to a 40-hour work week, similar to other top OECD states.

The draft bill to introduce long weekends comes on the background of the average Israeli laborer working longer hours than their peers around the world—approximately 43 hours weekly. In other OECD countries 40 hours constitute the average work week. The damage caused to the welfare of the workers and their ability to balance between work, family, and private life impact productivity in Israel, which is one of the lowest in the OECD. In states such as the United States and Germany, where work weeks are 38-40 hours, the level of productivity is significantly higher.

"The law will give a boost to the important economic sectors like tourism, commerce, culture, and leisure," said Cohen. "It will further balance our work and family lives. We need to decrease worker exhaustion in Israel. In the US and Germany, where the work week is 38-40 hours, productivity is much higher." He added, "We are (also) talking about investing in incentives to encourage growth and increased productivity, but we still need to lessen the exhaustion of the Israeli worker and balance better between work and family life."

The Manufacturers Association of Israel (MAI) warned against implementing the decision and mentioned a poll that included the participation of 210 companies in the market found that giving vacation on Sundays would lead to a rise in the cost of living in Israel. According to the poll, 55 percent of the companies reported that the initiative would lead to a decrease in economic activity. Thirty percent responded that the initiative would encourage them to move their operations outside of Israeli in the future.

"In the end, it turns out that we are bad people who are preventing the worker from an additional six days of vacation," said co-director of the MAI, Rubi Ginl. "It's obvious that we all would like an extra six days of vacation this year, but I need to say that this does not increase equality. It is impossible to take six days of vacation this year and have no one pay for it. I don’t know a model that gives the worker extra vacation days without affecting salary."

Ginl spoke the MAI poll: "At the end of the day, when businesses operate in a fully competitive and complex market, they either have to increase product prices to compensate for the (additional) vacation days or make changes to the workers' salaries accordingly." He continued, "It's reasonable (to assume) that wages will not decrease the day the six vacation days are added (to the calendar), but when employers review productivity, they will make changes to future wages."

Histradrut Chairmnan Nissenkorn said in a response to the draft bill, "Eli Cohen's work is welcome and important and signals the start of a process. It is important to note that shortening the work week must happen by decreasing the work hours in Israel to 40 (hours weekly)."