Thousands of IDF officers and NCOs will receive salary increases of hundreds of shekels a month, the Ministry of Finance and the IDF have agreed. Signed yesterday after months of negotiations between the Ministry of Finance Budget Department and the IDF, the agreement is part of the implementation of the agreement signed by Minister of Finance Kahlon and then-Minister of Defense Moshe Ya'alon, which allocated NIS 100 million a year for new recruits to the permanent army. Similar agreements have been signed for the Israel Police and Israel Prison Service.
The agreement establishes a mechanism based on salary increments for dozens of the IDF jobs in cyberspace, software, and intelligence. Multi-year bonuses will be paid in these professions in exchange for extending their period of service by a year or more.
Another IDF category benefiting from higher pay is fatiguing jobs such as maintenance for armored fighting vehicles (AFVs). The agreement also includes a change in salary structure that reduces the number of soldiers in the permanent army receiving wage supplements to bring their pay up to the minimum wage. The agreement is based on the differential supplement model (with uniform amounts, not percentages) used for public sector workers. The IDF has decided to increase the weight of the fixed shekel component to 70% of the salary increment, compared with 50% in the public sector workers agreement. "This is a continuation of the trend towards high pay for young people. This trend is also affecting the educational system and higher education. We hope it also reaches other sectors," the Ministry of Finance said.
The agreement signed by the Ministries of Defense and Finance includes a NIS 400 million pay hike for NCOs and non-academic officers. For the first time, an NIS 8,000 grant for war reserves stores unit NCOs was approved. The number of positions with sectorial pay was increased significantly, thereby making it possible to pay supplements of up to NIS 2,500 to officers and NCOs in special professions.
For example, a master sergeant working in a war reserves store unit, who has been paid NIS 5,900 a month up until now, will now be paid NIS 7,500 a month. Under the agreement, which affects 10,000 soldiers in the permanent army, and which will become effective for the next paycheck, all officers newly accepted into the permanent army will receive over NIS 6,000 a month.
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on March 21, 2017
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