The strike at the Port of Ashdod that began this morning was over within hours. The Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) announced work sanctions because of the rostering of temporary workers on work shifts instead of permanent employees, which it said was in breach of agreements with the employees.
For its part, the Ashdod Port management said this morning, "The operations committee at the Port of Ashdod began a wildcat, illegal strike this morning, without warning, and contrary to agreements signed between the company and the Histadrut, that has caused activity at the port to be shut down." The management began to prepare a petition to the Labor Court to call a halt to the strike, but in fact it ended before it could do so.
Sources inform "Globes" that the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Finance conveyed messages to the Ashdod Port workers committee to the effect that they intended to award additional quays to the port’s direct competitors - the Haifa Bayport in the north and the South Port next to the state-owned Port of Ashdod, a threat that had the workers back at work within hours.
This morning, there were 24 ships waiting outside the Port of Ashdod. In order to deal with the backlog, the Port of Ashdod board announced that 85 stevedores would be hired temporarily for periods of up to two years, in accordance with agreements signed with the Histadrut.
Since the 2000s, reforms have been introduced at Israel’s ports, whereby Haifa Port was privatized and two ports were constructed alongside it: Haifa Bayport, operated by Chinese company SIPG, and the Israel Shipyards port.
In the south, alongside the Port of Ashdod, an additional port, South Port, was constructed, operated by Dutch company TIL. The agreements between the government and Haifa Bayport and South Port stated that, in the future, they would receive additional quays for unloading containers. In 2022, however, the then ministers of transport and finance decided to hand over the additional quays early, for a period of two years, in order to overcome congestion at the ports. That order expired last April, and the ports ceased to unload at those quays.
Since then, government ministries have been working on an industry-wide arrangement under which various benefits will be given to the ports that compete with one another, and the additional quays will again be given to the new ports. The Port of Ashdod is also due to receive an additional quay, but legal counsel at the ministries instructed that it should be put out to tender, delaying the arrangement.
At any rate, the threats issued to the Ashdod Port workers today were to the effect that unless they returned to work immediately, the new ports would be authorized to use the additional quays, even before the arrangement was complete. The threat put pressure on the workers, whose pay is related to the volume of work at the Port of Ashdod, which would certainly have declined had the threat materialized.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on January 5, 2025.
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