Israel Electric Company Director Yiftah Ron-Tal
Israel Electric Company Director Yiftah Ron-TalYoni Kempinski

Israel Electric Company's (IEC) management cut millions of shekels off the salaries of workers who went on strike during the months of June and July.

The decision was made after receiving permission from Finance Ministry's Salary Supervisor Aran Yaakov, who claimed that his new policy was "no luxury strikes" anywhere - not in the IEC, not in the ports, and not in government offices.

The IEC is expected to investigate whether it can cut various premiums as well, since they are delivered in the succeeding month's salary instead of in the affected month's salary.

Various government agencies were involved in the decision to deduct from the workers' salaries, and the IEC's only comment was that "the decision to deduct from the month's salary was made together with the Finance Ministry's Salary Supervisor."

IEC and Israel's Histadrut Labor Federation scheduled discussions on reforming the IEC for the second week of August. According to Calcalist, under the new reforms the IEC would cease producing electricity by 2028 and would involve itself only in running the national electric grid, conducting electricity, and delivering it. Up to 4,500 employees would retire.

During the months of June and July, IEC customers did not receive electricity bills, since the workers were on strike. There was, however, an option to email the IEC and receive a prompt response.