McDonald's bans Arabic
Conal Urquhart in Jerusalem
Thursday March 11, 2004
The Guardian
McDonald's, the fast food chain that claims to be an equal opportunities employer, has been criticised in Israel for forcing employees to speak only Hebrew to customers.
It has banned the use of Arabic, which is an official language of Israel spoken by 20% of the population. Russian, which is not an official language but spoken by 20% of the population, is also banned.
The rules emerged after one worker, Abeer Zinaty, 20, claimed she was dismissed from the branch of McDonald's in Ramle, near Tel Aviv.
She has been supported by Mossawa, a civil rights group representing Arab Israelis, which has brought the case to the attention of the Israeli parliament and the employment ministry.
Mossawa claims the problem at McDonald's is common throughout Israel where Arabs are banned by some companies from speaking their mother tongue. Many Israeli Arabs and Palestinians from East Jerusalem suppress their language and identity in order to work in Israeli establishments.
Israeli fears of the Arab minority have increased during the second intifada which has seen more than 100 suicide attacks in Israel in the last three years.
Politicians regularly talk about the threat Arab Israelis pose to the security of Israel and to the demography of the Jewish state.
In December, Benjamin Netanyahu, the minister of finance told a conference: "Even if the Arabs integrate wonderfully with us, when their numbers reach 35% to 40% of the Israeli population, the Jewish state will at that point cease to exist."
In a letter to Mossawa, Talila Yodfat, the human resources director for McDonald's, wrote: "There is an instruction known to all the workers of the branches that they speak between themselves and clients just in Hebrew. This is to prevent uncomfortable situations for workers and clients who mostly speak Hebrew."
However, she wrote, Ms Zinaty was "dismissed because of her behaviour which violated the rules of the company and her dismissal is not to do at all with speaking in Arabic".
Mossawa pointed out that Ms Zinaty's supervisor told an Arabic newspaper in Ramle that he had dismissed her for speaking Arabic. Ms Zinaty, a university student, claimed that two months before she was dismissed in December last year, she was being considered for promotion and in 2003 she received an "excellent worker" award.
The Israeli supreme court has ruled that the use of Arabic by the Arab minority is part of their rights under the Basic Laws of Israel, a part of its informal constitution.
"We consider this action by McDonald's restaurants to be racist. We expect the company to change its policy and to reinstate Ms Zinaty immediately," said Fuad Azar, a lawyer for Mossawa.
Representatives of McDonald's in Israel declined to comment.
Abir Kopty, a spokeswoman for Mossawa, said: "Since we discovered this problem at McDonald's we have had several other claims about other companies. We will continue our campaign against McDonald's and take legal action if necessary."
Earlier this week the Knesset announced it would no longer force Arabs working on a new extension to the parliament to wear distinctive helmets. Giora Pordes, a spokesman for the Knesset, said only Arab workers who had not yet completed the lengthy security checks wore marked helmets. Arabs who had been cleared wore plain helmets, he said.
The markings enabled the Arab labourers to start work immediately, rather than wait the three to four months before checks were completed, he added.
Source:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Sto...166646,00.html
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