Israeli airport workers briefly halt takeoffs

A possible wildcat workers’ strike at Israel’s main international airport came to an end Thursday morning just hours after it began, causing minor delays.

The control tower at Ben-Gurion International Airport received a message from the Airports Authority labor union early Thursday morning asking it to stop approving airplane takeoffs and pause baggage unloading, according to the Ynet news site.

Four flights were delayed Thursday because of the move, including El Al flight 007 to New York, which had already boarded hundreds of passengers.

Ben-Gurion management said the move was an illegal labor strike — under law, strikes require prior notice and the chance of appeal to labor courts — but the union itself denied it was striking. It said it made the demand because the airport’s depleted manpower was not keeping up with the workload.

After speaking with Airports Authority labor union chief Pinhas Idan, Histadrut Labor Federation head Avi Nissenkorn said that the airport’s employees were working as usual.

Flights were back on schedule within a couple hours, according to reports from the airport.

The union’s message comes a week after the Histadrut declared a labor dispute in the Airports Authority due to what it called the management’s foot-dragging over negotiations toward a new collective wage agreement.

Airport workers are also concerned about the new, high-tech control tower being built at Ben-Gurion, as the union’s current workforce may be unable to handle manning both the new tower and the old, which will not be closed down.