Histadrut officials
Histadrut officialsHistadrut spokesperson's office

The Histadrut notified Mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, that they will be opening a grievance which will include over 9,000 city workers, with special focus being placed on the 1,100 sanitation workers in the city.

The grievance comes following the city’s decision to layoff 170 sanitation workers due to necessary cutbacks that came at the end of the calendar year last week Thursday.

But sources in the Histadrut say the Ministry of Finance has allowed the city council to continue to employ the workers, and even allowed the city hire new workers.   

The grievance will allow city workers who are part of the labor union to take unified action, slow down and otherwise disrupt city services, and even call a full strike. These steps may be taken after a period of two weeks.

The Histadrut reacted strongly to the dismissals. “We are talking about cutting off the food supply of the workers who are in the weakest position, and the complete breach of trust when dealing with a group of workers.”

Addressing the layoffs on Thursday, Barkat said, “The decision is too difficult to bare, but unfortunately we have no other choice." 

"The refusal of the Finance Ministry to transfer funds to the city’s budget prevents us from continuing to provide the services that the city has offered its citizens and forced us to take this harsh measure to layoff workers that are necessary for the upkeep of this city. It has also caused us to cut deeply into the budgets for social services, education, and culture which means that there will be thousands more city employees who will need to be laid off in our city.”

“At this time of terror we expected to receive significant support from the government, and what we got was a cold shoulder. Without the transfer of governmental funds to the city of Jerusalem, we will have no refuge from making drastic and painful cuts which will bring about another major blow to Israel’s capital. One that will hit every single citizen of this city.”