When Israel’s new Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman met with officials from the Histadrut labor union Monday, a proposal was mentioned that many Israelis have long forgotten: Making Sunday a day off from work.
While Western countries around the world work Monday through Friday, with Saturday and Sunday off, Israel’s work week is Sunday through Thursday, with Friday officially set as a half-day of work for bureaucratic purposes. Over the years, there have been various initiatives to make Israel’s week look more like that of other countries, to no avail.
Besides adapting Israel’s schedule to international standards, Sundays off brings up questions relating to Israelis’ leisure time. Israelis enjoy fewer vacation days than most OECD countries. With just 12 paid vacation days for a worker mandated by law (many get more), and nine paid public holidays, Israelis get far fewer days to relax than most. That has a cost for individuals and families, and possibly also for businesses: Israel’s work productivity outside of the hi-tech sector is among the lowest in the world.
In 2016, the proposal was put forward to make one Sunday per month a day off, in an effort to help improve people’s quality of life. Then, concerns about the high cost of 12 days off on the national economy led to that number being cut to just six Sundays per year. And then, as national priorities changed, the proposal was dropped from the agenda and not mentioned again.
In Monday’s introductory meeting between Liberman and industry heads, including Histadrut chairman Arnon Bar-David, Bar-David brought up Sundays off as one of the goals he would like to accomplish during Liberman’s term. The matter was not discussed beyond that, but the fact that the Histadrut plans to push for Sundays off gives cause for hope.