Histadrut Chairman Ofer Eini declared this afternoon in Tel Aviv that the public-sector strike is now set to begin Wednesday morning. The precise extent of the strike will be announced Tuesday night.
Eini explained that the action is due to the government's "helplessness" in dealing with municipal salaries over the past several years. Employees in municipalities, religious councils and firefighters' unions have been paid sporadically during this period, and their pension monies have also often not been allocated.
"The government has lost its credit with me," Eini said. "They interpreted my sense of responsibility towards the economy, and the fact that I postponed the strike, as weakness. I call upon the Prime Minister, the Finance Minister and the Interior Minister to end the crisis and ward off the strike."
Eini said he had an agreement with the Finance Ministry, but cited "internal governmental disputes" as preventing a solution.
The Interior Ministry, which is responsible for providing money for municipal salaries, says that the Accountant-General has held up the Ministry's pay orders for several weeks.
The Histadrut says salaries have not been paid for four months or more in 13 municipalities, and that salaries have not been paid for 1-4 months in 29 localities. Similarly, Rehovot's religious council workers have not been paid in four months, and in Lod - not for three months.
Rabbis Will Have Their Day in Court
In other public-sector news, some 100 government-paid rabbis have been told that it is "too early" for them to demand legal redress against new government regulations requiring them to physically reside where they work.
Many of the rabbis say they cannot afford to live in the high-income areas in which they serve, or that they do not wish to live in secular communities. Supreme Court Justices Beinish, Levi and Hayut accepted the State's position that the regulations are not yet being enforced, and ruled that "if and when the time comes, each rabbi will be afforded a hearing to argue his own personal case."
Time is Money
In yet another public-sector development, Jerusalem Traffic Court Judge Avi Tannenbaum ruled that the Egged bus cooperative must pay a 20,000-shekel ($4,650) fine because one of its buses set out on its city route 15 minutes late. "The Israeli public's time is not worthless," the judge ruled.
Eini explained that the action is due to the government's "helplessness" in dealing with municipal salaries over the past several years. Employees in municipalities, religious councils and firefighters' unions have been paid sporadically during this period, and their pension monies have also often not been allocated.
"The government has lost its credit with me," Eini said. "They interpreted my sense of responsibility towards the economy, and the fact that I postponed the strike, as weakness. I call upon the Prime Minister, the Finance Minister and the Interior Minister to end the crisis and ward off the strike."
Eini said he had an agreement with the Finance Ministry, but cited "internal governmental disputes" as preventing a solution.
The Interior Ministry, which is responsible for providing money for municipal salaries, says that the Accountant-General has held up the Ministry's pay orders for several weeks.
The Histadrut says salaries have not been paid for four months or more in 13 municipalities, and that salaries have not been paid for 1-4 months in 29 localities. Similarly, Rehovot's religious council workers have not been paid in four months, and in Lod - not for three months.
Rabbis Will Have Their Day in Court
In other public-sector news, some 100 government-paid rabbis have been told that it is "too early" for them to demand legal redress against new government regulations requiring them to physically reside where they work.
Many of the rabbis say they cannot afford to live in the high-income areas in which they serve, or that they do not wish to live in secular communities. Supreme Court Justices Beinish, Levi and Hayut accepted the State's position that the regulations are not yet being enforced, and ruled that "if and when the time comes, each rabbi will be afforded a hearing to argue his own personal case."
Time is Money
In yet another public-sector development, Jerusalem Traffic Court Judge Avi Tannenbaum ruled that the Egged bus cooperative must pay a 20,000-shekel ($4,650) fine because one of its buses set out on its city route 15 minutes late. "The Israeli public's time is not worthless," the judge ruled.