The public-sector labor union, the Histadrut, announced a nationwide strike beginning Wednesday morning at 6:00 am. The announcement comes after disagreement with the government over wages. Histadrut Chairman Ofir Eini and Finance Minister Ronnie Bar-On met on Tuesday evening in a last minute effort to prevent the strike, but the wage gap between the union's demands and the government's position is more than 10 percent.
On Tuesday, Eini called together union leaders to discuss the dates and scope of work sanctions for various public services. It was decided that the strike would cover all public services beginning Wednesday morning, with the exception of the airports. Employees at Ben Gurion International Airport and other state-run airports will begin striking on Thursday. Many airlines bumped up their Wednesday departure times before the formal announcement of the strike.
Organizations representing private sector businesses warned that the union has not given the public enough advanced warning to prepare for the strike. Analysts for the Association of Industrialists predicted that a general strike would cost the economy NIS 800 million in its first day, with the economic losses increasing each day thereafter.
Union officials confirmed that there was intense public pressure to prevent the strike, especially at Ben Gurion International Airport, which is approaching its peak season.
Jewish Agency director Ze'ev Bielski appealed to Histadrut leader Ofir Eini to make sure that 600 new immigrants from France will be able to land as scheduled early Wednesday morning.
"I cannot believe that anyone would prevent olim from arriving to their new home," Bielski stated. "It is unreasonable to expect the Jewish Agency to find ways to house them at 2:30 am," he added. "They have sold their houses and this is not the way to welcome them to their new home."
Minister Bar-On said, "Any strike will harm the economy, economic stability and the workers themselves." According to Bar-On, acceding to the Histadrut demands will extend the national budget beyond its limits and lead to a slow-down in growth, a drop in the standard of living and an increase in unemployment.
Histadrut Chairman Eini said that, in their Monday meeting, the Finance Minister had committed to a wage increase of 1% by 2009, over the currently agreed-upon 0.4%. Eini dismissed the Minister's offer, saying it comes to just 15 shekels per employee paycheck.