The strike at First International Bank of Israel (TASE: FTIN1;FTIN5) ended today after 12 days. The strike was the longest in Israel's banking sector since the 1970s.
The strike was officially declared over after a meeting this morning between First International Bank CEO Smadar Barber-Tsadik and Histadrut chairman Ofer Eini. Eini agreed to Barber-Tsadik's request to order the bank's workers committee to end the strike. Eini will manage the negotiations between the bank's management and workers committee with "the objective of ending the dispute as soon as possible," said the bank in a statement.
First International Bank added, "The workers committee agreed to the request and will return to work immediately."
The 4,000 employees of First International Bank launched the strike 12 days ago, and were joined by employees of two subsidiaries, Poalei Agudat Israel Bank and Bank Otsar Hahayal. The bank group has 146 branches nationwide.
First International Bank's share price rose 1.1% by early afternoon to NIS 61.65.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 14, 2010
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