Strike at Ben Gurion Airport called off

The Israel Airports Authority workers committee has declared sanctions at Ben Gurion Airport. The committee announced this morning that no flights would take off between Friday evening and Saturday evening. The

action is being taken because of the Ministry of Finance's intention to collect royalties from the Authority amounting to NIS 2 billion, despite the fact that, according to the committee, the ministry undertook not to collect further royalties.

The workers committee claims that the Ministry of Finance is completely ignoring heavy expenditure that the Airports Authority faces, which it says is liable to lead to harm its financial soundness.

Workers committee chairman Pinhas Idan said, "Our repeated appeals for 1,000 contract workers to be taken onto the payroll as employees of the Airports Authority have been rejected by the Ministry of Finance in the name of efficiency and cost-saving. It appears, however, that when it becomes necessary to finance coalition agreements, it is permissible to breach agreements and permissible to endanger the stability of the Airports Authority and the livelihoods of its workers. We will not agree to that. Who will ensure stability in the event of war? We have already experienced in the past emergency situations which led to mass cancellations of flights and to the collapse of an entire year's budget. Will the Ministry of Finance, which fails to abide by agreements, stand guarantee for us?"

The Ministry of Finance said in response, "We regret that the employees of the Israel Airports Authority are taking a militant step despite the fact that not only have we not harmed a hair of their heads, but they will receive a large bonus in August. The Authority is a state-owned statutory corporation and its cash belongs to the company and not to the workers. Since there is no intention of harming their conditions, we are sure that the problem will be solved through dialogue between the workers and management taking place today."

The Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) stated that a meeting would take place at Histadrut chairman Avi Nissenkorn's office between Idan and the head of the Ministry of Finance Budgets Division Amir Levy. "The financial strength of the Airports Authority must be preserved. Instead of the money being withdrawn, the many contract workers at the Authority should be hired as direct employees."

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 4, 2016

Original Source

למעלה

האגודה הישראלית לחקר יחסי עבודה

מחקר, הוראה ומדיניות בתחום יחסי העבודה

חיפוש מחקרים

Strike at Ben Gurion Airport called off