The rift between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Finance Yair Lapid is widening. There has been a bitter war of words since last night between the Prime Minister's Bureau and the Finance Minister's Bureau, after Netanyahu began promoting a bill banning strikes at the seaports, Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) (TASE: ELEC.B22), in the health system, and at Israel Railways without arbitration. Netanyahu acted without Lapid's cooperation and against the agreement between Lapid and Histadrut chairman Ofer Eini. A top source close to the prime minister said, "The issue is on the agenda, and is a top priority."
This morning, the Prime Minister's Office said that, last night, Prime Minister's Office director general Harel Locker convened a meeting at his office to examining imposing "an arbitration obligation before a strike" at vital services.
The Prime Minister's Bureau said that, when the meeting concluded, Locker asked the Ministry of the Economy's legal adviser to coordinate in the coming days a draft bill with the Prime Minister's Office, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Transport.
Netanyahu did not coordinate the measure with Lapid, and Director of Wages Kobi Amsalem did not notify anyone of his participation at the meeting, including Lapid and the Ministry of Finance's director general. The Ministry of Finance declined to comment on Amsalem's action.
Sources close to Netanyahu declined to comment on whether he had personally updated Lapid, who is responsible for the public purse and for labor relations in the public sector, including vital services.
The Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) was surprised at the official announcement that the Prime Minister's Office issued today, especially in view of Lapid's oral promise to Eini on the matter when the two men reached a deal on the state budget. Histadrut sources say that Lapid is the government authority on all matters relating to labor relations (through the director of wages), and, therefore, his promise not to promote legislation limiting the right to strike is tantamount to a government promise.
Following the statement by Lapid's bureau on the subject today, the Prime Minister's Office said, "The prime minister supports moving this bill forward, and instructed a review of the subject. The prime minister also asked, and received, a professional opinion on the subject from the attorney general, who gave a favorable opinion." Later, a top source close to Netanyahu said, "The issue is on the agenda, and is a top priority."
Taking revenge on Lapid?
When the state budget was being drawn up, Lapid held talks with Eini, which ended in an agreement to postpone the public sector pay hike to 2015 and to keep industrial quiet. In exchange, Lapid gave Eini several concessions on pay and benefits, and also agreed to postpone reform of Israel Electric Corporation and the seaports. Lapid did not involve Netanyahu in these negotiations, and promised that the reforms would not be carried out as part of the budget, but through negotiations and dialogue. Since then, Likud ministers, including Netanyahu and Minister of Transport Yisrael Katz, have not ceased announcing reforms of the ports.
Just yesterday, Netanyahu announced that, in order to maintain a growth rate of 4-5%, "we will have to streamline internally within our systems, and of course undertake far-reaching reforms. The most important reform is at the ports, which is the first."
According to the announcement, "The team discussed a number of matters involved in legislating the bill requiring arbitration before a strike in vital services while respecting the workers' rights to which Israel is committed, the criteria for determining what are vital services, and commissioning a survey of has been done in the West in these matters."
The rift between Israel's highest economic officials will affect another decision: the appointment of the next governor of the Bank of Israel to succeed Stanley Fischer in 24 days. There is no real dialogue between Netanyahu and Lapid on this question either.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 6, 2013
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