Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) chairman Ofer Eini consulted his associates today as the Histadrut prepares to launch selective strike action later this week.
The Histadrut is outraged by the continuing failure to address the problem of non-payment of salaries by local authorities and has accused the government of incompetence. It is expected to disrupt work at government offices which will be closed to the public, as well as at organizations and workplaces such as the ports, Ben Gurion Airport, Israel Railways and Israel Post and Israel Military Industries Ltd. where industrial disputes have already been declared. The Histadrut has not given full details of the upcoming strike action, but promised that “there will be drastic action later this week.”
The Histadrut first called a strike over the non-payment of salaries three months ago. The campaign later moved to the National Labor Court, whose president Judge Steve Adler prevented the Histadrut from continuing the strike despite evidence that the non-payment of salaries was continuing. Adler ordered the Ministries of Interior and Finance to present a raft of figures to the court, mostly with regard to non-payment of contributions to pension and further training funds. The state was given four consecutive deadlines by which to provide the data but failed to do so.
“It is unheard of anywhere that a union should have to spend months at industrial tribunals fighting to get its members’ rightful salaries,” said sources at the Histadrut today. They added that while the state had transferred funds to a number of authorities, which had reduced the extent of their workers’ salary arrears, as ordered by the court, non-payment was still continuing at many others.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior said that the ministry regretted the situation that local authority workers had found themselves in, but stressed that “the blame should be place squarely at the door of the local authorities that do not pay workers their rightful salaries.” The Ministry of Interior claims that seven commissions of inquiry have so far been established to examine the conduct of a number authorities, and that “plenty more are in the offing.”
The spokesperson added that the recovery programs that have been proposed have met with strong resistance from workers committees at local authorities.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on February 25, 2007
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2007