Union leaders in India are criticizing the Israel-Hamas war and arguing that replacing displaced Palestinian workers with Indian labor is unethical.
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00:00 At this labour pick-up point, workers wait in search of employment every day.
00:06 Some of them are carpenters, painters, construction workers and masons.
00:13 Finding work for them is a struggle.
00:16 But the recent demand to hire 90,000 Indian construction workers in Israel is bringing
00:21 fresh hope to these men.
00:24 Many of them are now thinking of going to Israel to earn money.
00:29 Lakhan Singh, a construction worker, is one of them.
00:38 He earns less than 10 euros a day.
00:43 For Lakhan, the money is simply not enough to support his family and live in Delhi.
00:50 I will go if I find good work anywhere abroad.
00:53 I am ready to go.
00:54 As far as the war goes, I have nothing to do with that.
00:57 I have no problem going to Israel or even Dubai for work.
01:00 I am a worker and I can work anywhere in the world.
01:04 India's growing unemployment problem is pushing workers to look for jobs abroad.
01:10 Earlier this year, on the 8th of May, India and Israel signed an agreement to bring more
01:16 than 40,000 Indian workers to Israel, a majority of them for construction work.
01:23 But after the October 7 Hamas attacks and Israel's military response, India's trade
01:28 unions now oppose the deal, despite the workers' willingness to go.
01:33 Today, this group of Indian trade union congress members is gathering for a big meeting.
01:41 They are discussing how they can get the agreement scrapped.
01:45 They oppose any attempt to replace Palestinian workers in Israel and are also concerned about
01:52 the potential safety of Indian construction workers in Israel.
01:56 Today, Ashok Singh, the trade union vice president, is addressing the members to create awareness
02:03 about the plight of the Palestinian workforce in Israel.
02:10 There are 1.3 million Palestinian workers there.
02:14 They're being ill-treated and deprived of their rights, their freedom and their work.
02:19 In such a situation, to replace them will be another problem.
02:22 Our workers can help them, but they cannot harm them by taking away their work.
02:30 But the trade union's concerns do not appear to be shared by Prime Minister Modi's government.
02:36 The economic realities of making a living in India means workers here are prepared to
02:42 take risks to earn a living, despite the events in Israel.
02:47 India doesn't see Israel from the prism of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
02:54 It is at the bilateral level.
02:56 And Indian workers who would be going there would benefit in the sense that if you do
03:04 not have much opportunities in India, and if you're able to find some economic opportunities
03:09 in Israel, at the individual level, people might not have any problem in going there.
03:17 Back at the labour pick-up point, construction workers like Lakhansingh are still waiting,
03:22 hoping they will find work, even if it means going to an area of conflict.