"The Histadrut will not lend its hand to the attempt to set one group of workers against another. The strike is not the end but the means of making heard the voices of about one million salaried workers who cannot make ends meet. The state should be concerned with the welfare of the lower and middle class, and the sooner the better. The Histadrut will be able regulate and distribute the wage rise at each workplace and in each union in favor of lower paid workers," Histadrut chairman Avi Nissenkorn said today in declaring a general strike in the public sector in Israel starting at 6:00 am this Wednesday. The Israel Teachers Union and the Israel Teachers Organization will participate in the strike.
Nissenkorn was addressing thousands of public sector employees who demonstrated today outside the Ministry of Finance in Jerusalem. "The employees must be in the front line," Nissenkorn said, "This has to be a country in which people can make ends meet. We are in a battle and we won't stop until we achieve a wage rise and we can say that we have done our job for those we represent."
Meanwhile, the Israel federation of Chambers of Commerce has filed an urgent petition in the National Labor Court for an injunction against the Histadrut's intention of calling a strike in the public sector, and an injunction ordering the Ministry of Finance and the Histadrut to include in their negotiations principles of mobility of workers in the public sector. The Federation is asking the court to order an interval of at least six months during which the threat of a strike will be removed and a serious, comprehensive and thorough discussion will be held between the state and the Histadrut in which mobility of public sector workers throughout the sector will be on the agenda. "The lack of mobility is the main driver of the huge growth in the number of workers in the public sector," the Federation claims.
Among other places, the strike will affect government ministries and local authorities, the Bank of Israel, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, government hospitals, Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem, Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital, the Broadcasting Authority, the Second Broadcasting Authority, the National Insurance Institute, the Israel Teachers Union, the Israel Teachers Organization, institutions of higher education, the Airports Authority, the Israel Standards Institute, Israel Post, the ports, Israel Aerospace Industries, Israel Electric Corporation, Israel Railways, Egged, the Israel Museum, the Land of Israel Museum Tel Aviv, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Beit Hatfutsot - The Museum of the Jewish People.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 21, 2015
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2015