Histadrut chairman Ofer Eini and Manufacturers Association president Shraga Brosh are planning to bypass the Ministry of Finance with the goal of Knesset legislation for a safety net for savings in pension and provident funds. Both men made comments to this effect at the Kibbutz Industry Association convention today.
Eini said that he would turn to every Knesset faction to gain a majority for such a measure. Eini and Brosh's joint initiative follows their confrontation with the Ministry of Finance Budget Director Ram Belnikov yesterday. Today, Eini announced that he will declare a labor dispute unless the Ministry of Finance deploys a safety net for pension and provident funds.
Belnikov, with the backing of Minister of Finance Ronnie Bar-On, told Eini that the ministry has no intention of even holding negotiations on the issue.
Eini told “IDF Radio" (Galei Zahal) this morning, "I won't let the Minister of Finance, the Prime Minister, or anyone else shirk their responsibility. I won't allow them to abandon these savings, they don't belong to them." He added that Bar-On had adopted a bunker mentality. Eini said that he would fight for the safety net. "People have lost their money in just a few months. We'll demand protection retroactive to January 2008."
Finance Ministry officials have spoken of an arsenal of contingency plans for intervention in the capital market, including measures to safeguard public savings. So why did budget director Belnikov not disclose this to Eini in confidence? Because Belnikov is not Kobi Haber, who was on good terms with Eini, and certainly not (former director of wages) Eli Cohen, who is an actual friend of his.
Belnikov feels he is not obliged to report anything to the Histadrut chairman, nor he is intimated any more by his threats. "He threatens all the time. Why should workers in Dimona and Yeruham that have no savings fund the fat cat funds for staff at IEC? It's a circus and it's time it was stopped," says a senior Finance Ministry official.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 20, 2008
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