Strike to close Ben Gurion Airport over weekend

Ben Gurion Airport
Ben Gurion Airport

The workers are protesting local authorities' plans to tax the Airports Authority.

Are you flying on Friday or Saturday? Prepare for disruptions. The Israel Airports Authority workers' committee today announced that from Friday afternoon until Saturday evening, Ben Gurion Airport will be shut down completely.

The workers' committee's announcement lists the reason for the strike, which will probably disrupt the flight schedule: "After Minister of the Interior Aryeh Deri established a committee with the participation of leaders of communities in the inland plain aimed at preparing measures for collecting funds from the Airports Authority, and after a petition was filed in the matter and stands to be heard by the High Court of Justice, the committee is expediting its action in order to preempt the legal proceeding.

"We emphasize that local authority heads in the inland plain have already tried in the past to take money from the Airports Authority, but the prime minister has promised in writing that no money will be taken from the Airports Authority, especially in view of the fact that the Airports Authority is not near the Ministry of Finance's table or the state budget, does not receive any service from any community in the area, operates everything independently at its own expense, receives no municipal services from any of the nearby communities, pays the state NIS 500 million in taxes a year, and carries out national projects that should be financed, or at least subsidized, by the state, but which the Airports Authority finances from its own revenue."

Airports Authority national workers' committee chairperson Pinhas Idan said, "This is a grave attempt to establish facts and political opportunism in a local authorities election year. It is aimed at getting money from the Airports Authority in order to solve the local authorities' problems ahead of the court hearing on the subject. We call on the minister of the interior and the committee established on his behalf to wait for the court hearing, and not try to establish facts ahead of time.

"If this initiative is carried out, the first to pay the price will be the thousands of workers liable to lose their livelihood and millions of passengers whose service and safety will be directly affected. The local authority heads may have forgotten it, but many workers in the Airports Authority and the companies supported by it are residents of the area."

Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) spokesperson Yaniv Levy said, "The workers' concern about the consequences, which will affect the Airports Authority's economic soundness, are understandable, and the Histadrut is taking action with parties in order to find an appropriate agreed solution."

The Ministry of the Interior said in response, "We reject any attempt to affect the committee's proper work. Discussions will continue as planned, and the committee's conclusions concerning Ben Gurion Airport will be submitted to the minister."

Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on November 28, 2017

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2017

Ben Gurion Airport
Ben Gurion Airport
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