By Haim Bior The Histadrut is continuing its preparations for a general strike of the economy on Wednesday, with the labor federation’s Trade Unions Division boss Shlomo Shani saying last night that the strike was on „as long as we aren’t convinced that Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dropped his plan to legislate the government’s economic program.”
However, the labor federation decided to form a team to examine Netanyahu’s proposal that the strike be delayed for at least a week to enable treasury and Histadrut teams to continue their negotiations. Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein meanwhile warned the government yesterday that the High Court of Justice might strike down legislation that tries to renege on signed collective wage agreements with public sector workers. If the Histadrut goes through with its strike threat, the economy-wide labor starting on Wednesday would include government ministries, as well as all the tax authorities, the National Insurance Institute, the Israel Lands Authority, the Employment Service, local authorities, regional authorities, religious councils, government corporations, statutory authorities like the postal service, trains and airports, as well as El Al staffers. Also slated to strike are workers at the banks and at Bezeq, nurses and administrative workers at hospitals, as well as employees of many large companies that have collective wage agreements. Meanwhile, limited strike actions to protest against the government’s plan continue today, including 50,000 ministry and other public sector workers who will not handle requests from the public or answer phone calls. The 100,000 workers at local authorities will also continue their sanctions; garbage will be collected and kindergartens will open, but automobile licensing bureaus will be closed and no parking tickets will be handed out. The Histadrut spokesman said last night, „It’s good the finance minister has finally begun to understand that the methods of brutal force and threats won’t work and that the economy can be saved only through negotiations and cooperation. This finance minister tries tricks meant to divert attention from the fact that he is responsible for the crisis by trying to introduce legislation into the worker-employee relationship.” During the cabinet meeting yesterday, the attorney general warned that he would have a difficult time defending legislation meant to cut wages and fire workers. Netanyahu told the cabinet that the economic plan must be passed very quickly and that while he prefers a deal with the Histadrut, he is determined to take the package to the Knesset if left with no other choice. Rubinstein said that outside of the 1985 Economic Stabilization Program, which halted annual inflation of 400 percent, employer-employee relations have never been resolved through legislation in Israel. He emphasized that every effort must be made to solve the issue with the Histadrut without resorting to legislation.
