The strike at Ben Gurion Airport has ended after eight hours. The strike began this morning when the Israel Airports Authority workers committee stopped flights from taking off and refused to unload baggage from incoming flights.

There was a breakthrough in the dispute over the workers pension rights this afternoon after day-long negotiations and the intervention of Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz and Minister of Transport Israel Katz. A representative of the workers committee said, "We have achieved everything that we wanted. Money will be deposited in a trustee account within 60 days, while at the same time there has been an agreement on the final details of negotiations.

Thousands of tourists were still stranded at the airport in the early evening as flights resumed.

Throughout the day there were scenes of chaos at Ben Gurion Airport as orthodox Jewish pilgrims returning from Rosh Hashana celebrations at the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Bratislav in Uman, Ukraine rioted when they were unable to receive their baggage.

Published by Globes, Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 13, 2010

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