Israel Military Industries hasn't paid January salaries yet, though under law companies have to pay wages by midnight of the ninth of each month.

The government company's 3,900 workers are owed NIS 34 million in total.

In reaction, the workers are holding protests during working hours at all the company's plants, from Kiryat Shmona in the north to the Negev in the south. The sanctions are backed by Histadrut labor federation.

IMI union leader Yitzhak Yehuda commented that the Defense Ministry is holding NIS 59 million earmarked for the IMI, to pay for ammunition that the company sold to the Israeli army.

Actually paying the money would ease the cash crunch at IMI, he suggests. He called on the Finance Ministry and Defense Ministry to release the money.

Yehud also said that if the salaries aren't paid by Tuesday, the sanctions would escalate.

But he vowed that the workers would not allow Israeli soldiers to go short of ammunition.

Last week NIS 7 million in pension payments to 1,000 IMI pensioners were also delayed for six days. IMI usually pays pension stipends on the 1st of each month. There is no law mandating the deadline for paying pension support.