General strike ends after Histadrut reaches deal with gov't
Eini, Dinur conclude meeting to end strike; ministries, local authorities, ports still shut.
By The Associated Press and Haim Bior Haaretz ServiceThe government and the Histadrut labor federation on Wednesday afternoon reached a deal to end a crippling day-long public sector strike, winning compensation for thousands of unpaid municipal workers.
"I hearby announce that the strike is over and all workers can go back to their jobs," said Histadrut Chairman Ofer Eini. "The employees will be paid today or tomorrow."
The Finance Ministry confirmed that a deal had been struck "solving the problem of the unpaid wages" and that Eini has agreed to several of the government's bridging proposals.
"The government did everything so that this painful problem would be solved and not recur. As we promised, the workers will receive their wages and the economy will continue booming," Finance Minister Abraham Hirchson said in a statement.
According to the settlement, which was based on an outline drafted by Prime Minister's Office Director-General Ra'anan Dinur, the Histadrut will loan a total of NIS 17 million to 620 employees in the 10 local authorities worst-hit by financial difficulties. A fund will be created for this purpose. This will be the first time the Histadrut will loan funds to workers who are not on strike.
In addition, the Histadrut received documents proving the state has transferred funds to 20 local councils to pay wages.
The state said the government would discuss amending the Municipalities Law to allow sanctions against local authorities that fail to pay their employees' wages a key Histadrut demand during the next cabinet meeting.
The amendments would allow the state to dismiss local council heads who delay the wages of more than 25 percent of employees for more than two months.
The parties agreed to come up with a payment plan for the employees of several dozen religious councils whose wages have not yet been paid. The plan is to be presented by Independence Day, April 24.
Labor unions launched a general strike at 9 A.M. Wednesday, stopping international flights and shutting many vital public services, such as rail services. Following the deal, public employees were to return to work, though some services, including the railway, were to resume to operation gradually, rather than immediately.
Earlier Wednesday, a senior Histadrut official predicted a speedy end to the strike, which began after the collapse of last-minute overnight talks between the unions and government aimed at averting the industrial action.
The head of the Histadrut's situation room, Jihad Akel, told Haaretz Online at around noon Wednesday that he believed that, "there will be an agreement within a matter of hours that allow us to end the strike."
Unofficial talks between the state and the Histadrut continued once the strike had begun, even after Eini stormed out of the talks early Wednesday, saying the government had failed to guarantee salary payments for the 3,700 local authority employees whose wages have been withheld.
Eini and Dinur spent most of Wednesday in negotiations, and talks have been ongoing at lower levels.
The government, meanwhile, is continuing the transfer of salary payments to local authorities, and there has been significant drop in the number of municipal employees who have still not been paid.
Eini is now waiting on government documentation proving that the monies have been transferred to the workers.
The strike caused the closure of all local authorities, except for departments dealing with special education. In addition, all government ministries, with the exception of the Defense Ministry, were closed to the public. The National Insurance Institute, the Employment Service, the Israel Land Administration, the vehicle licensing office, and the land registration office were also shut.
There was no train service, nor were planes allowed land or take off at Ben-Gurion International Airport. Sea ports were also shut down.
Bank of Israel employees imposed sanctions, although ATMs were to be restocked with cash. Health services and the security services, banks and the stock exchange operated as usual.
The National Labor Court has yet to rule on the state's petition for an injunction against the strike. Israel Radio said that the court is expected to rule on the matter within a short time.
The state argued that the strike was unjustified given the progress that has been made in negotiations on the issue.
The state informed the court Wednesday morning that only 10 local authorities and three religious councils have yet to receive state funds in order to pay their employees, promising that those bodies would receive the funds by Thursday.
In addition, the state said the government would discuss sanctions against local authorities that fail to pay their employees' wages, a key Histadrut demand, during the next cabinet meeting.
During Eini and Dinur's intensive overnight negotiations, the Histadrut agreed to take responsibility for part of the solution to the crisis and grant loans to local authorities that the government is unable to pay.
According to the proposal, the Histadrut would grant loans totaling millions of shekels to 625 employees in 10 local authorities which are worst-hit by financial difficulties.
But Eini said Wednesday morning that the government "was not willing to say unequivocally that every worker would be paid today. We will not agree to lees than this. We must put an end to this issue once and for all."
"It is unacceptable that in a properly functioning country employees go to work and don't get paid," said Eini. "The prime minister promised a complete solution and when I say a complete solution, that means until the last employee [is paid]."
Dinur also gave the Histadrut documents showing the government had transferred funds to 20 local authorities for the purpose of paying employees.
The government has transferred NIS 175 million to local authorities in the past two months, including NIS 85 million during the past two weeks, although not all of the funds were used to pay employees - in part because some of the money was used to pay off authorities' debts.
The government agreed to amend the Municipalities Law such that an emergency committee would be formed to take over control of any local authority that fails to pay a quarter of its employees for two months.
Eini asked for the public's forgiveness Wednesday morning, but said that the issue of employees' wages is a matter of principle and called on Israel's citizens to "show restraint and patience."
England fans can landAll flights from England will be allowed to land in Ben-Gurion Airport, general strike notwithstanding, a senior Histadrut official told Haaretz last night after attending a meeting between Eini and the heads of large unions.
The chairman of the Israel Football Association, Avi Luzon, succeeded on Tuesday in persuading Eini to permit the English fans to land in Israel despite the strike, contrary to the labor federation chief's earlier decision to allow only the English team to land.
On Tuesday, Eini met Airport Authority Chairman Pinhas Idan, and the two decided not to deny thousands of England fans to attend the game in Ramat Gan.
"We're expecting from 5,000 to 7,000 English fans to arrive in an airlift from England," a senior Histadrut official said. "We will prepare accordingly. They will all be well treated in spite of the strike. We won't tarnish Israel's image in Europe and won't hinder the huge celebration planned here," he said.
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Histadrut labor federation Chairman Ofer Eini announcing the strike on Tuesday. (Alon Ron) |
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The collateral damage of our politicians and the strikes once again in Israel have once again demonstrated that exports from Israel are not reliable and alternative suppliers wait in line to offer thier products.
I say more power to these poor people who were not paid for months and months. It's disgusting that ministers are embezzling millions of shekels from government accounts for their own personal benefits when these poor people have not been paid.
The religious councils and a number of municipalities are incompetent and contribute nothing to the economy - the finance minister is presumably too busy dealing with police investigators to deal with it so a dispute over what 10 million shekels in the public sector costs the private sector half a billion - and the histadrut times the strike to be colse to their elections so that their secretary genral can use this in his election campaign. Just think how much better this country could be if we could lift all of these millstones from around the neck of the economy.
The Euro chic lefties are not interested in the reality of israel.They are interested in exploiting this conflict to further their larger agenda of "trimming back " the role of the US in the world.In their "new left" view of the world america is Satan and Israel is Satans little helper.Attack one and you attack the other.They live in world of delusions and are fools.The people they support in the ME would hang them if they tried to set up an arab version of the guardian in arab countries.They are really quite patheric.I share your sentiments about the strike.It is long overdue for israeli workers to stop the fruits of this nonsensical adoption of republican style economics in Israel.Regards
I just want to congratulate the Israeli workers for standing up for what's right! Unfortunately, the British media has hardly covered this story at all. If they did, they would see a country where workers stand side by side one another, regardless of race. If the Guardian had covered this, they probably would have found a way to continue their 'aparthied Israel' theme, rather than admitting that this was mostly Jewish Israeli workers standing up for mostly Arab Israeli workers.
Even if the strike had gone on, the planes would have been allowed to take off and land in Israel anyway. I'm flying out there and was not worried for a second about this strike!
Better a Banana Republic than a banana aristocracy like you have in the US.
"This has nothing to do with Israel`s economy at large." I disagree - any nation that fails to pay public employees (and this is not a one-off incident where something went wrong) is doing so deliberately. Or are we meant to believe that Israeli administration is so atrocious (corrupt ?) that there are entire cities whose spending is so far out of control that they cannot even pass payments on to their own employees. Are you really not aware of the recent multi-nation study of the Israeli "brand" ? Did you not HEAR what the British Gas Corporation said about trying to deal with your nation when it finally gave up trying to ? There is no "refusal" to control public spending, unless you wish Israel to be a Banana Republic which seems to be dramatically short of bananas.
Try again, its worth a visit, israel is one of the most interesting a FUN places you will ever visit.be a bit more tough Chris and try again, these types of general strikes are very rare in israel.
It is shameful the way the strike was ended it is democratic to use ?round about ways? to overcome legal technological self made obstacles. The cause of this less than 12 hours ?general strike? runs into the tens of millions waste of tax payers money so far and unknown additional large expenses caused by the agreement of paying salaries, social benefits payments to pension plans etc through Trade Union, Histadrut. The behavior of government and the involved parts of the Knesset are to put it mildly are undignified as this agreement in the Labor Court could have been reached a long time ago and through normal channels and official ways of payment. - The citizens of Israel are not pampered by government promises to be carried out in full and without delay. This government and this Knesset have ?over stayed their welcome? and should be forgotten as quick as possible in order to resurrect dignity of democratic government and parliament.
I had been told to go and see Israel for myself. I thought I would take in a bit of football at the same time. Had organised the full tourist thing J'lem Yad Vashem, Tel Aviv Masada. Just cancelled it as I am not prepared to risk sitting in an airport during my valuable holiday time. Won't bother again
"THERES ONLY ONE WAYNE ROONEY....ONE WAYNE ROOOOONEEYYYY, THERES ONLY ONE WAYNE ROOOOONEEEYYYY....." ENGLAND ... ENGLAND ...
The lack of the Israeli Government to act responsibly with it's avoiding General Strike, & discouraging English Fans & Tourism to Israel, will when it causes Antisemitism in UK, the Israeli Government can only blamwe itself.
Israel is far from broke. matter a fact are economy is good and above the norm. The problem is that we have big spenders in Cities that refuse to control there spending habits and Israel is trying to bring them under control. Israel repeatadly tryed to pay these salaries with Cities not passing it along to the workers because they can not get there spending under control. This has nothing to do with Israel's economy at large.
I have been reading with amazement what this strike is about ...hardly extremist, is it, to expect one's pay packet. what is to negotiate ? in civilized countries the non-payment of wages counts as dismissal and the bankrupting of the employer becomes inevitable. Israel is broke.
Don't forget that Histadrut stood right alongside the councils when the govt tried to combine the councils to eliminate the money waste and fraud. H supported the continuation of greed and incompetence so they could get theirs. They're only upset that they're not getting theirs, not that the private citizen, non-govt employee, is getting screwed by H. The messed up councils should be shut down, with Mayors, council members and Histadrut employees all put back on the street.
If England's soccer fans can't get to the match, with very costly tickets they have already paid for, then there will be a palpable upsurge in anti-israel feeling in he UK, with increased antisemitism & pro-palestinianism.
the strikes have never worked in the past so why should they work today. disruptive small histradrut bullies playing big-boyz games. get a life and stop wasting public time and more public money.
So are planes allowed to land or not ?
Is part of the problem local authorities spending more than authorised and then under Israeli law awaiting central Government bailing them out? If so we should be told the names and financial scale of the problem.
It is shocking to see that in a presumably socially "advanced" country like Israel the working citizens should not be paid their salaries by municipal authorities whatever the reason. It is even more surprising that these citizens should not be able to use the law to correct the situation rather than resort to striking. Don't the laws in israel guarantee a a person working for the authorities (no matter what level) to be paid for his/her work? This would never happen in western country and can only be seen in the third world countries.
what is that guy in the picture on the main page standing on the platform of an empty train station? is he the only person in israel who didn't realize that there is a strike? lucky for us, a haaretz photographer was on the scene:)
I own a real estate company and have several employees. There have been a few times in the last twenty years when I have had not had the money to pay wages and have ensured that I have made whatever sacrifices that are needed to pay employees in full and on time. I don't need to discuss the ethical, legal and religious laws which relate to paying workers. If these local councils and authorities can't honour their respnsibilities, then their management must be held to account. Non payment of wages should be a punishable offence. My workers are my brothers and sisters in my business struggle.
Very much hoping the strike will be called off. We've been planning our trip from amman for a month,and can't wait to come and see the great city of tel aviv and enjoy the Israeli hospitality. I'm a West Ham fan and I'm still not sure whether to shout for England, or for yossi!!! c'mon Irons!!! Also concerned that we can't fly in from Jordan!!! Lets all enjoy the game, have a laugh and a beer together. then everyone wins...
What about the workers and their families who might like a tad of 'pesach', whatever that is. Could they afford it with no pay? I think not. The English fans are being allowed in to try to soften the banana republic view they would undoubtedly have if not let in. You apparently don't have any unpaid workers in your family; it appears your concern is that YOU and YOURS can 'pesach'. Regards.
Not to mention medical conference delegates from around the world.
It won't be that bad, England will only lose 2-0 Cheer Up
Although we are being told flights from England will be allowed to land, thousands of England fans are travelling via other European cities (as this tends to be considerably less expensive) and there is widespread concern that we won't be able to travel to your country for the game.
Strikes occur everywhere in the world,so that there is no point here for the usual Israel and Jew bashers to spit their venom.The problem is that not only strikes are not effective,they also cause serious economical problems and financial losses,especially in economies like in Israel and Greece,which are not so powerful to withstand a crisis.The leaders of the various workers unions should try to find other ways to claim from their governments whatever is due to them,not by holding their countries' people at ransom.
without being paid? I am amazed that some workers, according to the article, have not been paid in a year. Despite what Paul Harris says about "western" countries, NO workers would work or would be expected to work even a month without being paid. How were these unpaid folks living? Sounds like the economy is quite shakey and not at all "great" as Paul Harris and Jasmine suggest. The strike is just in time to show the world how great Zionists have their act together while urging the world to boycott the Pal gov't, yup, sounds like a 'BS outing', if you will, to me. Regards.
What kind of country is israel,people go to work and don't get PAID.it seems like this problem has been going on forever.I hope they stay on strike until all the employees get paid in FULL.
and reading the posts. I thought you said Zionists had bunches of money, didn't need any welfare, blah, blah, however, according to the article some folks haven't been paid for a year. You had better export more olives and wine or something, shouldn't you? Golly day, you and Jasmine are always touting how great your economy is, blah, blah and here I find your public servants have not been paid, some for as much as a year. Well, you get a welfare check, but how about the working people over there? Is that why Zionists are withholding Pal tax money cause they need to juggle it and use it to bail themselves out? Hm, not paid for a year; that sounds like a banana republic. Have coffee.
it's sickening that the head of histadrud said that he wants all those people who haven't received payment to be able to spend pesach ''truly free'', but all those people who want to go to family abroad or come here for pesach NOOOOO, you can't leave or come in, only special people can come into the country people who have nothing to do with pesach preparations, THE ENGLISH SOCCER TEAM, come one mister eini get your priorities right, i mean soccer comes first on your list?????? (especially since israel has absolutely no chance)
We just want to have a few beers, sing a few songs and watch our useless team throw it all away yet again. Let us in. You know it makes sense!
Actually Phil it is now 11-0 and will soon be 12-0 - that is 11 England managers since Sir Alf - and 0 to show for it!! Dream on
I am from Czech Republic and i should fly today with my family and friends to Israel.Yes i am very dissapointed that english fans have such an exception and guaranteed landing-should i become fan of english team to be allowed to land too ? It is definitely discrimination !
NO COUNTRY CAN AFFORD THIS KIND OF BLACKMAIL AND EXTORTION !! MOST WESTERN COUNTRIES DO NOT ALLOW PUBLIC SECTOR STRIKES AT ALL. SINCE THE END OF THE 19TH CENTURY LABOUR UNIONS HAVE DESTROYED THEIR WORK PLACES AND THE WORK HAS GONE ELSEWHERE!!
smoking in the work place?? Smoking is a health hazard!
You don't get it. What member of the Hisdadrut is going to go on stike if he thinks that it will prevent the match going ahead. With Crouch and Owen injured, now is our chance. And to Phil - one nil, one nil, one nil......to Israel!!!!
Its nice to see the football going ahead !!!! three nil. three nil, three nil, three nil........COME ON ENGLAND !!!!!
Its high time that Israel adopted Bibi's proposal for financial reform in Israel, removal of monopolisation, privatisation of industry and a step change in the whole ethos of working. These people will cost the country millions in lost revenue as a result of the strike.
What does it say about the maturity of a country when it shuts down all its services to the general public, business and travelers, but allows the airport to open to receive a football team and fans. How childish and immature an attitude, one would hope that the Israeli team is humiliated in the game by the English.
There is nothing more just than a person getting a salary for work! There are 5 commandments in the Bible regarding this issue of paying wages on time. It has nothing to do with being dati or not - it is merely pure correct behavior between people
your are completely right.
Congratulations once again the public falls victim to Histradrut tyranny! Who is effected by the trains not running,National Health Insurance ,Employment bureaus not working, I give you one answer the poor and lower middle classes who A) do not own cars , the unemployeed who are trying to get jobs so that they can feed their families for the holidays. The Government leaders are not directly effected by the strikes at all, they have cars given to them by the government,I am sure they can fly out of the country no problems,they can charter a plane. With the ports closed the agriculture section loses alot of money, business that import goods, which trickles all down to the small businessman who sells such goods, that is still reeling from last summer's war. In short the strike is effecting the wrong people, the least that can afford it, the struggling families, the small business man who is fighting for his very survival that is who, not the government big wigs, with their fancy houses!
I completely agree, this crooked and useless organization should be dissolved! Eini go home!
only removal of local authority heads, and a rationalization program will ensure long term improvement in the fiscal state of these entities. it is not the central governments job to pay the salaries, no more than it is their responsibliity to pay salaries of any deadbeat orgainztion who doesn't pay its workers
I beg differ with some posters as to how this strike will somehow miraculously change the downward spiral that the country I love has been taking. If the strikes would be effective then they would not have to be repeated. It seems that many posters do not recall how the last major strike (set off by none other that the clown Peretz), paralyzed our country and economy, and gave no true resolution to the injustices and inequalities that government workers face. At the end of the day, the only benefactor is the Histadrut. The striking workers lose more independence and power each time they are represented by this selfish money hungry organization. This mammoth parasite grows its tentacles into every element of Israeli society and becomes another enemy which we have to contend with. Think next time before you write.
Mr or Mrs SJ (to scared to put your name). How blinkered of you to think that anyone from England and likes football is a hooligan (and at least spell it correctly). The 3,500 England Fans go through a Police Security Check before being allow to join. It's people like you that have no idea of world matter and suggest you get hold of a pin and burst your little naive bubble world!! Think of the income that 3,500+ visitors will bring to a much needed country and city. Hope your family are proud of you!!!
This strike, it is not a complete general strike, as part of public/governmental functions are excluded. It is most probably the strangest of all known strikes so far, as here the Labor Federation, Histadrut seems to agree to ?help government to fulfill its basic function namely paying long due salaries to public employees. This help expresses itself by Histadrut willingness to arrange necessary loans/ to pay these wages and their social deduction into the relevant funds. Night long discussion in Labor Court President personal office of government representatives and Histadrut counterpart, caused an agreed upon strike delay of 3 hours. This prior to a Labor Court judgment/ decision concerning legality or forbidding the strike. For government appeared top echelon officials i.a. Director General of Prime Minister?s office but no ministers. They could offer only an agreed upon without possible version of elimination of the strike?s cause to be brought before next government session for authorization. Resuming the political/ legal happenings on the official stage during the last week created the following picture of a non functioning government with its ministries and having lost the ability to influence parliamentary decisions. - So for investigation, criminal court case, pending indictment , strange outside existing coalition agreements caused new cohesive Knesset decisions even against their political party?s direction. To enumerate :- the President of the State is about to be indicted, Prime Minister is investigated in several cases with a possible criminal background, former Minister of Justice had to resign after being indicted, former Minster of Ecology and nowadays a Chairperson of Knesset most important Foreign and Security Committee after being indicted pleads before the district court, Finance Minister is being investigated with strong possibilities to be indicted, a Knesset Member a former minister is awaiting judgment after having been indicted for some time, the Ministry of Finance top echelon under cloud of investigation. N o w the REAL QUESTION seems to be UNANSWERABLE CAN THIS ?TORSO OF GOVERNMENT? CONTINUE ANY FURTHER! When the first parts of the Winograd investigation committee are to be published, when the State Comptroller?s findings are being handed before the Knesset and it seems again the hand still stretched out for further investigation of corruption, breach of trust etc. Knesset members full yourself together dissolve this Knesset and go for an as quick technically possible election for a new truly representative house of citizen?s delegate. Citizen get up and voice/ vote your opinion.
This strike, it is not a complete general strike, as part of public/governmental functions are excluded. It is most probably the strangest of all known strikes so far, as here the Labor Federation, Histadrut seems to agree to ?help government to fulfill its basic function namely paying long due salaries to public employees. This help expresses itself by Histadrut willingness to arrange necessary loans/ to pay these wages and their social deduction into the relevant funds. Night long discussion in Labor Court President personal office of government representatives and Histadrut counterpart, caused an agreed upon strike delay of 3 hours. This prior to a Labor Court judgment/ decision concerning legality or forbidding the strike. For government appeared top echelon officials i.a. Director General of Prime Minister?s office but no ministers. They could offer only an agreed upon without possible version of elimination of the strike?s cause to be brought before next government session for authorization. Resuming the political/ legal happenings on the official stage during the last week created the following picture of a non functioning government with its ministries and having lost the ability to influence parliamentary decisions. - So for investigation, criminal court case, pending indictment , strange outside existing coalition agreements caused new cohesive Knesset decisions even against their political party?s direction. To enumerate :- the President of the State is about to be indicted, Prime Minister is investigated in several cases with a possible criminal background, former Minister of Justice had to resign after being indicted, former Minster of Ecology and nowadays a Chairperson of Knesset most important Foreign and Security Committee after being indicted pleads before the district court, Finance Minister is being investigated with strong possibilities to be indicted, a Knesset Member a former minister is awaiting judgment after having been indicted for some time, the Ministry of Finance top echelon under cloud of investigation. N o w the REAL QUESTION seems to be UNANSWERABLE CAN THIS ?TORSO OF GOVERNMENT? CONTINUE ANY FURTHER! When the first parts of the Winograd investigation committee are to be published, when the State Comptroller?s findings are being handed before the Knesset and it seems again the hand still stretched out for further investigation of corruption, breach of trust etc. Knesset members full yourself together dissolve this Knesset and go for an as quick technically possible election for a new truly representative house of citizen?s delegate.
Country is rotten at the core, by striking out at the population already victims of a corrupt, un organized, headless, power, just makes things worse. All the people stuck trying to come home from abroad, are furious, we to are tax paying citizens who dont deserve to be denied seeing our families. As usual...the government dont suffer directly...its citizens take the brunt.
It is almost a relief to see the Isaeli public stand up against the shocking treatment of her workers, after reading day in and day out of the financial crimes commited by the ruling elite. Is this strike a ray of hope? Can Israel recover it's sense of fair play and idealism? Can the Israeli public take courage from this protest and see that it is possible to stand together to thwart the Banana Republic, which is bringing disaster on the priciples of decency and equality?
I hate strikes - But this one is one that I support. The government has to learn to do its job prior to a crisis and allowing employees at institutions which are unde government supervision not to be paid is a disgrace. If the law has been found to be wrong or with insufficeint recourse - change it, but after you have ensured that children and parents are fed. Well done to the Histadrut and Airport Authority for taking the action of allowing the English fans to arrive for Saturdays game - a clear sign that the failing government is the target. Lets hope the government ministers will start doing their job instead of strutting around showing how important they are!
Over the years the Histradut has done more damage to the economy than the palestinians. They have far to much power , shutting the airport down is not acceptable as their actions are always at the exspense of the public. How discracefull that they decide to bring in thousands of football holigans but deny Israelis from attending family events abroad let alone the damage they do to the image of Israel abraod. Still i expect when Ofer Eini wants to travel abroad with his family he has no problem.
especially the Israeli establishment, that wages must be paid in time, always and without exception whatsoever. This lesson is so important that it's worth the damage to the economy and the inconvenience to many people. It must be emphasised, however, that this is a very old problem and the current goverment have made an impressive progress toward solution.