Histadrut threatens general strike over pay cut demand

Arnon Bar-David / Photo: Kadia Levy

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Israel's trade union movement has called a work dispute over the Ministry of Finance's demand that 700,000 public sector workers take a pay cut.

The Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) leadership today approved the proposal of its chairman Arnon Bar-David to declare a general work dispute throughout Israel's public sector. This will allow the Histadrut to call a general strike of Israel's 700,000 employees in the public sector in 14 days.

Minister of Finance Israel Katz has been demanding that public sector employees earning over NIS 20,000 per month take a 10% cut, while those earning between NIS 7,000 and NIS 20,000 take smaller cuts. Katz also wants to switch employees on budget allocated pensions to those on the less lucrative accumulative pensions. Katz has threatened that if these demands are not accepted he will legislate for it in the Knesset in two weeks.

Bar-David said, "Last Wednesday the Minister of Finance woke up and decided he was going to take it out on the public sector. Everywhere else in the world people appreciate the public sector, only in Israel are they blamed if something hurts."