Just over a week after a nationwide strike was called off after a few hours, state employees have walked off the job once again. The current open-ended strike was called by the national Histadrut Labor Union on Thursday in protest over an upcoming tender to be offered by the state for provision of banking services to members of the public sector.

The Histadrut claims that the terms of the tender promote discrimination between employees, harm the workers, and will cost the taxpayer 20 million shekels.



The Histadrut claims that the terms of the tender promote discrimination between employees, harm the workers, and will cost the taxpayers 20 million more shekels per year. The Finance Ministry is scheduled to open the proposal envelopes on Sunday, April 1, but the union has signed its own agreement with the institution currently providing banking services to the public sector.


Several months ago, the state issued a tender among the nation's banks for the provision of services for public sector employees, after a 50-year monopoly by Bank Yahav. Yahav is 25% owned by the state, 25% by employees of the state, and 50% by Bank Mizrachi (which recently purchased its share from Bank HaPoalim). The deadline for proposals in the tender was to have been December 2006; however, at the time, state employees began work sanctions, claiming that the terms of the tender would take away benefits that they have enjoyed for many years. That strike was called off after two days, when the Finance Ministry extended the deadline for proposals that would reflect the concerns of the effected workers.


In the interim, on Monday, the Histadrut signed a collective agreement with Bank Yahav that will make the tender unnecessary except for provision of loan services. The Histadrut-Yahav agreement grants public sector workers most of their regular, ongoing banking services, including credit card and checking account services, free of charge. The Histadrut has therefore called on the state to now revise its banking services tender, as the lifting of Yahav's fees would save the state 20 million shekels annually in subsidies. A request for proposals in the field of loan services could still be issued, the Histadrut said; however, the union is demanding that the loan services be offered indiscriminately to all workers, regardless if they have accounts with the winning bank or not.


The Finance Ministry has thus far refused to acquiesce to the Histadrut demands for changes to the tender, leading to Thursday's nationwide government workers' strike.

A collective agreement with Bank Yahav will make the tender unnecessary.



Among the offices affected by the strike are the Prime Minister's Office and all other ministerial offices, the State Comptroller's Office, the National Insurance Institute, the state's unemployment services, the Lands Authority, the National Population Registrar's Office, the Licensing Bureau, international border control, the nation's courts and the State Prosecutor's Office, as well as the state's rabbinical courts.
State-owned hospitals will be operating on a reduced footing, with only emergency surgeries performed and the out-patient clinics closed to the public. Among other immediate economic effects, agricultural produce will not be imported or exported, nor will veterinary services for livestock continue during the strike.