Jerusalem Light Rail drivers, some 70 in number, will go on strike tomorrow, claiming that negotiations with the management on regularizing their employment terms have reached an impasse. The announcement by the Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) states the industrial sanctions will be instituted because the drivers, who have been negotiating with the Jerusalem Light Rail management for six months, have no other levers left to pull. The Histadrut accuses the management of failing to listen to the drivers and of not negotiating in good faith, and says it is trying to make permanent current employment terms in the company whereby the drivers are employed part-time at low salaries.
According the Histadrut, the strike comes after repeated warnings from it and the drivers, to no avail.
Jerusalem area Histadrut head Danny Bonfil said, "I call on the management to come to its senses and to stop the injury in the shape of the workers' employment terms and their low wages. These are responsible employees who have so far acceded to all requests to refrain from organizational action, in the hope that this would lead to improvement in their employment conditions. For the past three and a half years, the company's management has promised that the drivers will receive wage rises after an agreement is signed with them, but it has acted insensitively and has not tried to make progress on the matter. It is unacceptable that a light rail operator receives just NIS 6,700 gross monthly, when he carries 600 passengers all day and is responsible for them, including in the face of the security dangers along the route. We cannot continue to tolerate such wages and employment conditions."
Jerusalem Light Rail said in a statement, "This is a surprising announcement. We are in the throes of negotiations with Histadrut chairman Avi Nissenkorn, in the course of which we made an unprecedented offer of a substantial wage rise for the drivers that even exceeds the hourly rate that the bus drivers will receive under the new format. This is scandalous behavior by the chairman of the workers committee and the chairman of the Histadrut in Jerusalem, demonstrating complete indifference to the severe and unnecessary damage to the Jerusalem public, and at such a sensitive time in the city."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 9, 2015
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