Israel Railways workers committee chairwoman Gila Edri has not yet ordered the railway workers to return to work, defying this morning's order by Tel Aviv District Labor Court to return to regular work by 9 am. The order came after Edri called a wildcat strike as of 11 pm last night. Railway traffic will not resume before this afternoon.
A "Globes" correspondent who called the Israel Railways call center was told, "All train stations are closed. I advise you not to rely on rail service today."
Israel Railways management petitioned the Labor Court against the workers committee and Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) for contempt of court. A hearing will be held at 11 am.
"Israel Railways is a proud place to work. It is a company that provides good service to the public," workers committee member Daniel Ben-Shimon said. "If that were not the case, no one would care that there are no trains today. We're exercising our rights to take industrial action, because until now we have not received answers that we could respond to. We respect the court, and we'll see what can be done to move forward on the matter."
Knesset Economic Affairs Committee chairman MK Ophir Akunis summoned the committee for an urgent meeting today. "Israel Railways is not the property of the workers committee, it belongs to the entire nation. There should not be a struggle on the backs of hundreds of thousands of Israelis," he said.
Israel Railways management said, "Israel Railways has petitioned the court for an injunction against the strike and for contempt of court."
Yesterday, management said, "The Railways workers committee and its leaders have again shown that the company's customers are merely their hostages in their fight to prevent progress by Israel Railways. The employees' use of strike weapon cheapens and denigrates it, and we strongly condemn this aggressive and irresponsible act by the Israel Railways workers committee against the Israeli public."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 14, 2012
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