Histadrut chair Ofer Eini: The Finance Ministry has sent us back to the policies of Netanyahu in one day.
"The Finance Ministry has sent us back in just one day to the policies of Netanyahu, who would wake up one morning and cause damage to hundreds of thousands of workers. If the Finance Ministry does not withdraw its plan within 14 days, the Histadrut will launch a general strike," said Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) chairman Ofer Eini. He was speaking at a special press conference this afternoon in response to the Ministry of Finance's tax cuts program, at the center of which is the cancellation of the tax exemption on savings in further training funds.
Eini is outraged at the proposal, which will affect 750,000 public sector employees, the Histadrut's strongest member group.
Union of Clerks, Administrative Public Service Employees chairman Arnon Bar-David, who also attended the press conference added, "This is very grave. It will affect the employees' long-term savings, and is the latest in a string of harsh measures introduced in recent years. We will be considering our response, and I hope that we can prevent this proposal from going forward."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 11, 2008
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2008