"Where is Minister of Transport Israel Katz?" Nearly a week passed since the latest clash between Israel Railways management and employees broke out, before the commentators remembered to ask where the commander disappeared to in the midst of the campaign. Israel's minister of transport, the man who is supposedly responsible for the welfare of 140,000 railway passengers a day, did not utter a word during the wildcat strike by the Israel Railways workers committee and its illegal abuse of these passengers.
Anyone who examines Katz's recent comments is liable to conclude mistakenly that the only thing that happened here this month was cabinet approval of the railway to Eilat.
Katz's spokesman said that the minister believed that the courts should be allowed to have their say. As for the violent assaults on Israel Railways CEO Boaz Tzafrir by the workers committee, the spokesman said that the minister "gives full backing to the management."
Why does Katz find it so difficult to back the assaulted Israel Railways CEO personally? It is hard not to see Katz's silence as a retreat from the courageous and surprising line that he took last year. Last April, he did not hesitate to threaten to close down Israel Railways if the new safety regulations were not approved.
Back then, we called on Katz to go all the way, and undertake the only move that could cure the severe disease afflicting Israel Railways.
Almost anyone who thoroughly knows Israel Railways problems agrees that it should be closed and a new railway company should be established in its stead - just as the Public Works Department was reconstituted as Israel National Roads Company Ltd. in 2004. All that is necessary is a government decision at Katz's recommendation.
It is true that a prolonged railways strike would cause greater aggravation than a strike by the Public Works Department, but the Ministry of Transport already has a detailed action plan for dealing with a full and lengthy strike. It is quite possible that from the moment that the old Israel Railways is closed, the balance of forces between the state and the employees will change.
The state could exploit the closure to rebuild Israel's railway network with a separate company for rail traffic and a government company for rail infrastructures. The plans are ready; only a courageous decision is needed.
If Katz lacks the courage to do it, he can make do with threats - experience shows that that is the only language that the Israel Railways workers committee understands.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 15, 2012
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2012