The striking employees of Bank of Israel decided to go back to work and negotiate their contracts at the same time. They are threatening to strike again if a contract is not signed.
The employees accepted a proposal by Jerusalem District Labor Court Judge Eyal Avrahami to hold three negotiating sessions in the course of next week. The sessions will be held with the participation of representatives from the national Histadrut Labor Union and will be overseen by the Labor Court.
The threat of a Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) shutdown has now been removed. TASE officials said last night (Wednesday) the exchange could not function in light of the continuing Bank of Israel strike.
Because of the Bank of Israel strike, which began Monday, no currency or account balance information was provided to the TASE, disrupting the execution of regular stock exchange transactions.
TASE directors decided to keep the exchange open for trade today, but said that the next business day, Sunday, they would have to close "for the good of the investors." The suspension of trade would have been an unprecedented move by the exchange directorate.
The Bank of Israel labor union called the strike following a Finance Ministry initiative to curtail bank employees' salaries and perks. A letter sent by the Finance Ministry's Wages Department to bank employees informed them of the decision. The letter stated that the government was willing to hold "hearings" for employees for whom certain benefits would be eliminated. Among the perks allegedly enjoyed by Bank of Israel employees were car allowances for all, even those without licenses, as well as forgiven loans.
An editorial in Yediot Acharonot, Israel's largest newspaper, expresses anger and dismay at the striking senior Bank of Israel workers. The paper says the workers were "unscrutinized for years and have scandalously helped themselves to excessive wages... they are not striking for their bread, and not even for butter, but for caviar."