Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) chairman Avi Nissenkorn has declared a general strike of public sector workers from next Wednesday following the failure of talks with the Ministry of Finance on a pay hike for public sector employees. The declaration comes two weeks after the Histadrut called a work dispute on the matter. The Histadrut claims it has been negotiating for a new salary framework agreement since 2013, without any success and that during that time the salaries of more than a million public sector employees have been eroded.
Nissenkorn said, "The economy's strong workers unions are united and working together. We are protecting pensions, and now we are conducting an important campaign salaried workers in Israel cannot make ends meet and some have very few ends that can meet. Salaried workers are being overlooked and have been marginalized. We say no. Salaried workers must be in the forefront, in the center, and that means that workers must earn appropriate salaries."
He added, "It's no disgrace to give people a pay rise but a right and so we have begun a fight. We have been holding pay talks for three years. We now say enough and that salaried workers must get their share of the pie."
Nissenkorn continued, "True a pay hike for a million workers costs money. But ultimately we see only that workers cannot make ends meet. If there is no solution we will go out on strike one week from today."
The Histadrut is asking for an 11% pay rise for public employees, which the Ministry of Finance says will cost NIS 11 billion.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 16, 2015
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