"The strike is unnecessary. There is no need to punish the Israeli people; they are not guilty," Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon said today at a meeting with reporters in his Tel Aviv office.
He added, "I hope that a strike is avoided. Any such threat is premature; negotiations should be pursued. The argument is not about whether to give, and there is practically no disagreement on how much to give. The argument is about how to distribute it. We think that after talking so much about narrowing gaps, it is about time to use the tool of a wage increment to accomplish it."
The negotiations between the Ministry of Finance and the Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) are focusing on two issues: the amount of the pay rise and how it is to be distributed. Ministry of Finance sources said today that the under an optimal scenario, in which the Histadrut agrees to a differential model and a series of other demands for managerial flexibility and streamlining, the Ministry of Finance will be willing to provide a budgetary supplement of NIS 7.5 billion for wage increments and compensating workers for the delay in their pay rise (the agreement applies to 2013-2018), a sum closer to the Histadrut's original demand of NIS 11 billion.
In the opposite scenario, in which the Histadrut is unwilling to accept any of the Ministr of Finance's demands, the Ministry of Finance is willing to pay NIS 3.5 billion. In percentages, this means an increment of 3.5%-7.5%, or 0.7%-1.5% yearly over the five years of the agreement.
The Ministry of Finance is insisting that for the first time, the wage agreement should be divided equally among all 500,000 public sector employees, so that low-paid employees will receive a higher percentage increase than high-paid employees. The Ministry of Finance is refusing to say how big the pay rise will be, but it is said that a 1% increase is equivalent to NIS 100 per worker, meaning that each worker will receive a NIS 750 pay rise under the optimal scenario.
Meanwhile, Ministry of Finance and Histadrut negotiating teams are continuing their discussion today of a wage agreement in the public sector, with the Histadrut threatening a general strike on Wednesday if the parties do not achieve an agreement.
At the same time, the Ministries of Finance and Education, the Union of Local Authorities in Israel, and the three largest cities (Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Haifa) today petitioned the National Labor Court for an injunction against the planned strike by the Association of Secondary School Teachers scheduled for tomorrow. The state asserts that the Secondary School Teachers undertook in the framework of an educational reform program to refrain from industrial action until August 2017, and is therefore barred from conducting a strike. The state also alleges that the Histadrut Teachers Union also undertook to refrain from industrial action under a signed agreement pertaining to general strikes.
Ministry of Finance director general Shai Babad said, "We expect the Histadrut to continue negotiations, and to really take up the cudgels for the disadvantaged workers, instead of damaging the Israeli economy through an unnecessary wildcat strike. In any case, we are petitioning the court, so that Israelis will be able to continue their daily lives."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 22, 2015
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2015