Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz today defended Director of Wages Ilan Levin, and hinted that he would not agree to eliminate the Director of Wages' oversight of Bank of Israel salaries.
Steinitz has confirmed yesterday's report by "Globes". At today's Director of Wages' conference he said, "People at the Ministry of Finance Director of Wages Division are doing sacred work. It is not possible to have proper public administration without tight supervision of public sector salaries, and this will continue to improve and tighten. Supervision will continue even when there are disagreements. It's always possible to talk and solve difficult disagreements in good spirit. But one thing must be made clear: oversight of salaries is essential and cannot be foregone. All government agencies must be transparent in all matters, and unquestionably about salaries."
Steinitz added, "I say these things in response to yesterday's report." He was referring to the disclosure by "Globes" that he, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Prime Minister's Office director general Eyal Gabbai were formulating a deal to exempt the Bank of Israel from oversight by the Director of Wages.
Steinitz said, "There are intensive talks with the Bank of Israel on this subject, including with Governor Stanley Fischer. There is cooperation, and I'll meet him later today. It's clear to all of us, Fischer included, that oversight of salaries is essential, and that includes the Bank of Israel. Salary oversight at the Bank of Israel neither harms nor threatens its independence. We want to promote the new Bank of Israel law, and I'm convinced that we'll find the right way to respect the central bank's independence while also maintaining supervision of salaries in the economy as a whole."
In response to "Globes'" article, Levin told “IDF Radio" (Galei Zahal) this morning, "The Ministry of Finance's position as relayed to me yesterday is that salary oversight of the Bank of Israel must continue, and it will continue. I haven’t heard Fischer's response to these reports, but to the best of my knowledge, Fischer also does not dispute that the bank's employees should be under supervision as far as their salaries are concerned. Stanley is a valuable and important person for the Israeli economy."
Levin concluded, "Bank of Israeli employees are now paid on the basis of a collective agreement and court rulings, which settled their salaries. The average salary at the bank is 20% higher than the average salary in the public sector. We don’t look at that with a jaundiced eye. We don’t consider this unacceptable given the small number of employees and the crisis that they are dealing with."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 3, 2009
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2009