Unions threaten to hold up reform over private ports

The unions representing Haifa and Ashdod port workers are demanding that the state declare that it does not intend to put up privately operated cargo terminals that would compete with the existing ones. The demand was raised at a meeting held last week in the office of Transportation Ministry Director General Yaakov Ganot, as part of preparations for a prospectus advertising the sale of 15% of shares of the Ashdod Port Company on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange by March of next year.

"The ministries of transportation and finance declared that they currently have no plans to establish a private port. We told them that we have a problem with that 'currently,' and are being asked to note in the prospectus whether there is indeed such an intention," Ashdod port workers' union chairman Alon Hassan was quoted as having said over the weekend to the Internet shipping and logistics site Hamit'an. "We have asked to see a copy of the prospectus before it is issued. If we find it mentions a private port then negotiations will be halted immediately," Hassan said.

The workers' demand violates agreements reached between the government and the Histadrut labor federation in 2005 over reforms to the country's seaports. The reforms are to include the privatization of the Haifa and Ashdod port companies.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to hold deliberations today on the ports reform, following preliminary deliberations on the issue by Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz.