Last update - 00:00 20/12/2007
Barak: Labor Party won't support budget if stipends remain frozen
By Barak Ravid and Mazal Mualem, Haaretz Correspondents
The Labor Party will not support the budget unless the government reverses its plan to freeze stipends and cancels its annual four percent cut in welfare allowances, which has been in effect since 2002, party chairman Ehud Barak said Thursday.
Calling these terms "red lines," Barak added that the matter "touches millions of citizens, all those in need of guaranteed minimal income."
"This concerns study grants, single mothers, mothers who receive alimony payments, bereaved families, disabled IDF veterans, pensioners, and millions more," Barak said.
"We will insist on these two issues, this is a red line, and in next week's budget [vote], this will have to be approved," the defense minister said.
Barak is coordinating his moves in tandem with Histadrut chairman Ofer Eini, who recently laid out his positions on the matter of government stipends.
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