The Local Government Center announced on Sunday that it will begin a general strike starting next week for an indefinite amount of time, due to the rise in water prices and the reduction in education and welfare budgets.
Center officials announced that the strike will begin as early as next Sunday, unless their demands for reducing water tariffs are met. Should a strike take place, there will likely be disruptions in school operations, since all employees of the local authorities will not be reporting for work, including assistants, security personnel, custodians, secretaries and even some teachers.
As the week progresses, the local government plans to take further actions and worsen the strike.
Mayors and local authorities are expected to demonstrate on Monday outside the Prime Minister's Office starting at 11:00am. The protesters are expected to bring a fire truck to the demonstration alongside a garbage truck, for the purpose of showing “the disaster that was" next to the next disaster which will take place should a strike begin.
Last month, a general strike that had been planned throughout Israel was averted at the last minute after marathon negotiations between representatives of the Finance Ministry and the Histadrut Labor Federation.
The Histadrut had asked the government for a 10.5 percent raise over three years. The treasury, however, had offered only 1.5 percent. However, after last minute negotiations which lasted for over 12 hours, the two sides reached an agreement by which the employees would receive a 6 percent raise over a period of three and a half years.
Meanwhile, an ongoing prosecutors’ strike has caused much inconvenience throughout Israel. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu instructed Director-General Eyal Gabbai of his office on Sunday to meet with representatives of striking prosecutors and the Finance Ministry and discuss an efficient way to solve their dispute. The instructions followed a meeting at the Prime Minister's Office regarding the strike, attended by Gabbai, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz and the ministry's director of wages, as well as Justice Minister Ya'akov Ne'eman and his ministry's director-general, and Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein.
After the meeting, Gabbai met with the Treasury's wage director and a meeting has been scheduled with prosecutors' representatives in the next few days. The Prime Minister's Office said he will not act as a mediator but recommend ways that the sides can agree upon to solve the dispute.