The employees of the court secretariats went on strike Sunday and are not offering services to the public. The Courts Management has branded the strike “illegitimate,” and says it will turn to the Labor Court to demand restraining orders against the striking clerks.
The strike is a second blow in a row to the system, coming just as the nationwide court typists' strike ends. The typists were on strike for more than a month in a demand to improve their pay conditions, and were set to fully resume their work Sunday.
The chairman of the State Employees' Labor Federation, Ariel Yaakobi, signed a joint labor agreement Saturday night in the typists' name with Ilan Levine, head of the Salary Department at the Finance Ministry. The agreement substantially improves the typists' employment conditions. It is based upon agreements Levine reached previously with Ofer Eini, head of the Histadrut National Labor Union.
The Finance Ministry accepted the Histadrut's demand for an average pay hike of NIS 1,000 per typist. This works out to be a 40% average pay raise.
In addition, it was agreed that 550 typists who have been employed for more than five years will receive official civil servant status. This means that their employment positions will have permanent status and will be included in the budget that the Finance Ministry pays out to the Court Management.