The Board of Directors of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) decided on Wednesday night to suspend trading beginning on Sunday, if the ongoing strike by Bank of Israel employees is not ended by then. Since Monday, the Bank of Israel has provided no currency or account balance information to the TASE, disrupting the execution of regular stock exchange transactions.
TASE directors decided to keep the exchange open for trade on Thursday, but said that the decision to close the exchange Sunday was taken "for the good of the investors," as deals cannot be cleared through the Bank of Israel under current circumstances. The unlimited suspension of trade, if carried out, would be an unprecedented move by the exchange directorate.
The unlimited suspension of trade would be an unprecedented move.
The Bank of Israel strike, which escalated on Monday, has shut down all the bank's departments, including cash services for ATMs and the publication of representative currency exchange rates. The strike began with limited sanctions last week, which impacted information, licensing and transfer services normally provided to commercial banks. The strike was called by the Bank of Israel labor union in reaction to an initiative by the Finance Ministry to curtail bank employees' salaries and perks. A letter sent by the Finance Ministry's Wages Department to bank employees informed them of the ministry's decision. According to the letter, the government is eliminating certain benefits enjoyed by Bank of Israel employees and will be demanding the return of monies the ministry says had been paid to bank employees "illegally" several years ago.
This week, Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer met with Finance Minister Avraham Hirschson in an effort to negotiate the salary issue. The minister agreed to a temporary suspension of the salary adjustments while negotiations continued.
Bank of Israel union chairperson Rimona Leibowitz said on Monday that the strike was in reaction to the Finance Ministry's violating agreements and acting in bad faith. Ministry officials said that the striking workers were seeking to keep illegal benefits at the expense of the public.