The inequality between the economic capacity of the Jewish plantation owners and the irreducible demands of the Jewish laborers is the basis for the difficulty between the Labor Federation and the orange-growers at Ness Ziona and other places, according to a statement issued today by the Farmers Union.
Since the beginning of the orange-picking season the planters and the Jewish laborers have been at odds because the planters do not employ more Jews. The planters have agreed to employ more Jews if the laborers will accept a wage cut.
The statement of the Farmers Union points out that the representatives of the planters had agreed to a higher wage scale for Jews than Arabs after a consultation with Pinchas Rutenberg, chairman of the Vaad Leumi. This offer had not been accepted, the Farmers Union says, accusing the Jewish Federation of Labor of pursuing objects “not connected with the employment question” and alleging that the Jewish labor leaders “prefer to see hundreds idle and starving rather than reduce an iota of their party principles or their extravagant demands.”
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