Thousands of bus drivers held a strike on Friday in protest of their work conditions, demonstrating across Israel against Transportation Minister Merav Michaeli (Labor).
Roads were blocked there were enormous traffic jams at the Geha Junction in Bnei Brak, due to thousands of drivers' protesting. Outside the Ashdod Central Bus Station, drivers burned tires and shouted, "Shame, shame!" about Michaeli.
"Without drivers, there is no transportation!" they added.
The strike was planned for peak hours, from 10:00a.m to 12:00p.m. on Friday, in Jerusalem, Netanya, Ashdod, Petah Tikva, Rosh Ha'ayin, Yavneh, Bnei Brak, Gan Yavneh, Be'er Sheva, Ariel, Beit Shemesh, and the Samaria Regional Council. It also affected lines traveling between Ben Gurion International Airport and Jerusalem.
Yoav Simchi, chairman of the National Labor Union, said: "We will continue to fight for justice with all our might and with all the means available to us. Despite the attempts of the failed Transportation Minister, Merav Michaeli, to create an effect and send a message that it is 'business as usual,' every citizen in the State of Israel knows the truth with regards to the transportation situation."
On Thursday, the Bus Drivers Organization said: "Forty percent of drivers have been viciously attacked, over 300 attacks have occurred just since the beginning of 2022. There is a shortage of 5,000 drivers, and thousands of drivers are working double the hours in order to bring home a respectable salary, but none of this interests the Transportation Minister."
"The Transportation Minister continues to abuse tens of thousands of bus drivers, abandoning them to relieve themselves in bottles and buckets, and ignoring any attempts to contact her. We have tried to hold discourse, but Michaeli is busy with politics, apparently. We intend to expand the strikes until Ms. Michaeli gets off social media and wakes up."