Yesterday regarding the railways dispute, we mentioned two conclusions, which are liable to be pure clichés, even though they are both critical in labor relations: "It is better to be smart than right"; and "It takes two to tango". Today, with the agreement on the Israel Railways reform, a third, and especially dismal, conclusion (also a cliché) can be added: "When force doesn’t work, use more force".
Both sides in this story used belligerence: on one side was Minister of Transport Yisrael Katz, who at some point became more hawkish than Israel Railways' management, and initiated unilateral measures that escalated the labor dispute; on the other side, Israel Railways workers committee chairwoman Gila Edri, whose conduct and especially her big mouth can be the subject of a very large book.
Notwithstanding the criticism, in reality it is doubtful whether Israel Railways could have reached this deal without the swordplay by both parties. It was the strikes and threats of more strikes by the workers against Katz's fait accompli, together with the disciplinary measures taken against the workers committee's leaders that created the right mixture, and ultimately replaced threats with discussion, and swords with handshakes.
In the end, Katz today did what his predecessors failed to do. It is easier when the media is leading the baying pack of invective against the railway workers who were fighting privatization, but it is never easy for a politician who needs some of the workers on his side in the Likud primaries.
As the minister responsible for the latest deterioration in the labor relations, he is also responsible for the reform that is supposed to turn Israel Railways from a company run like a grocery store into a modern world-class corporation.
At today's press conference, there was a lot of talk about the good of the public. Israel Railways chairman Ori Yogev and Gila Edri both pointed to the public as if they were a guiding light. Only Histadrut chairman Ofer Eini made the right remark: "Let us remember that the public also includes the workers. When you go on strike, the public is hurt, because it does not like strikes, just as I don’t like strikes. But there will be no good railways unless we keep the railway workers."
Indeed, in contrast to other agreements, which gave employees pay hikes in exchange for privatization, which abandoned new workers and expropriated their future, today's agreement guarantees the workers' future. The workers committee justly insisted on keeping the maintenance of new rolling stock within Israel Railways, at a time when its management, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Transport preferred the future of a Canadian company.
In contrast to the ports workers, who agreed to privatization of the ports in 2020 in exchange for pay hikes and grants of NIS 100,000 per worker, the railway workers obtained job security at least through 2030, and the hiring of contract workers who for years worked for pitiful wages.
This is the place to remind certain listeners of some unpleasant facts. For all her faults, Gila Edri waged a battle of principle, and she should be praised for these principles.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 27, 2012
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2012