The Social Equality Minister of Israel, Meirav Cohen, stated that she had received several public enquiries and information regarding the issues related to the employment of senior citizen veterans of Israel.
She called it a painful issue to address the closure of the post offices and working stations close to the residential area of the retired veterans.
She stated that due to the closure of working places near them, many senior citizens need different postal services and jobs to fulfil their daily needs.
Furthermore, she called this a complex challenge that they are facing since they are not digitally literate, forcing them to be present at their workplaces.
Cohen noted that senior citizen veterans do not know how to use digital technology, closing the alternative ways to work from their homes.
Moreover, the social equality minister addressed the issue further that some veterans even come to the post bank branches to cash in their old age allowance and additional social insurance allowances while running at their pace All month long.
Closure of the working places is causing the army veterans sheer discomfort and inconvenience. They are forced to travel a long distance to be able to fulfil the most common tasks of the day.
Minister Cohen further conveyed that due to such circumstances,
‘’the ministry of Social Equality turned to the CEO of the Post Office of Israel and requested that any decision on the closure of a branch be examined in the character of the populations that need the services in the same area and especially considering the senior citizen population’’.
In addition, to approach the CEO of the Post Office of Israel, Cohen and her team also took the initiative to provide courses in digital literacy to potential adults so that they can operate remotely conveniently.
The Ministry of Social Equality also cooperated with the banking association and managed to get the banks to an agreement that grants specific rights and services for adults. Cohen believes that such actions would turn the circumstance for good.
Previously, Meirav Cohen has also noticed the issue related to the employment of Senior Citizens and Veterans of Israel. She has been promoting the cause of providing suitable employment opportunities to vets.
The programs introduced by the social equality ministry have helped increase the number of employees from 10 employees in the senior citizen standard in 2020 to 147 employed employees today.