News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) Finance Minister Ronnie Bar-On reluctantly announced a limited safety net for pension funds on Sunday, revising an  economic stimulus plan that had prompted Histadrut Labor Union leader Ofir Eini to threaten a general strike of the entire public sector.

Bar-On, who expressed concern that the move would be seen as "election economics", maintained that the amendment was unnecessary and had been forced upon the Ministry by political pressure.

The Histadrut decided to declare a work dispute Sunday anyway despite the move. The decision initially came following the release of Bar-On's economic stimulus plan that had ignored the union's demand for a "security net" for pension funds which have lost more than 20 percent of their value in the market crash over the past several months.

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