The Finance Ministry announced, Thursday evening, that representatives of the Treasury and the Histadrut Labor Federation will meet at noon Friday to continue negotiations aimed at stopping the general strike that started Wednesday. At 3:00 p.m., they are scheduled to report to President Nili Arad of the National Labor Court on their progress to resolve issues regarding the absorbtion of contract laborers into the government workforce.
According to the ministry,the two sidesproposedan innovativeagreementforcontract workers,withan emphasis onmaintainenceandcleaningstaff. The Treasury issued a statement that said, "We need tofinalize the detailstoreach an agreementandmake sure that there is quietin labor relations because of these issues."The statement continued,"We have nointention ofcompromising the abilityof organized laborin general and disadvantaged groupsin particular."
The ministrycalledon the union to stop the strike, explaining"Given the progress,there is no roomto continuethestrikeand harm the publicin Israel."