Courts order port employees back to work

Ashdod Port  picture: Eyal Yitzhar
Ashdod Port picture: Eyal Yitzhar

Wildcat strikes broke out at Haifa and Ashdod ports yesterday.

The Beersheva Labor Court ruled today that all employees at Ashdod Port who began a wildcat strike yesterday must return to work, and that any order by the workers committee or by anyone on its behalf was null and void. The Haifa Labor Court handed down a similar ruling concerning Haifa Port. No representatives of the ports' workers committees attended the court hearings, and the employees have not returned to work.

Yesterday, the port workers went on strike claiming that the ports' managements were infringing their rights. "Because of continuing infringement of the rights of the port workers by the minister of transport and the government of Israel, the workers' committees at Haifa and Ashdod decided on an immediate strike. The workers see the government of Israel harming their livelihood, their rights, and their and their families' futures," the workers committees said in a statement.

The timing of the strike is believed to be connected to the signing ceremony for the contracts for the new ports due to take place today. The workers claim that the government is constructing two new ports at Haifa and Ashdod without ensuring that the existing ports will be able to compete with them.

Meanwhile, yesterday, Ashdod Port workers committee chairman Avinoam Shoshan announced that he was resigning his post "for personal reasons."

Haifa Port stated in response, "A wildcat strike broke out at Haifa Port without the workers committee or the Histadrut giving any notice or providing any reason for it." The management of Ashdod Port said, "The management takes a very grave view of the strike and intends to take every step available to it to restore normal working as soon as possible."

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 28, 2015

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2015

Ashdod Port  picture: Eyal Yitzhar
Ashdod Port picture: Eyal Yitzhar
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