Thousands of contract workers, Jews and Arabs, protested on Thursday, July 16, at the Habima Square in downtown Tel-Aviv as part of the struggle being waged by labor unions to reduce the number of contract workers being employed by public institutions. The hiring of contract personnel, who do not enjoy the benefits earned by union employees, is an ever increasing phenomenon in recent years, consistent with neo-liberal policies. Among the demonstrators at the Thursday protest were leading activists from Hadash and the Communist Party of Israel. Negotiations are currently underway between the Ministry of Finance and unions belonging to the Histadrut labor federation which recently threatened a nation-wide strike if a deal is not reached by July 22.