Brief workers strike causes delays at Ben Gurion airport

Employees instruct control tower to only allow planes to take off once every ten minutes rather than the normal two

By ToI Staff 22 February 2018, 9:14 pm

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Illustrative: Thousands of Israelis stand in line at the departure terrminal at Ben Gurion International airport on April 20, 2013. Israeli airlines employees called a strike for Sunday to protest against a government proposal to finalize a deregulation plan with European carriers which they say would result in widespread layoffs (photo credit: Yossi Zaliger/Flash90)

Israel Airports Authority (IAA) employees at Ben-Gurion Airport caused flight delays for several hours after they staged a two-and-a-half hour go-slow as part over their dispute for better working conditions.

As part of the strike, workers instructed the airport’s control tower to only allow planes to take off once every ten minutes instead of the normal two.

While flights were allowed to again take off in normal increments later Thursday afternoon, considerable delays were expected throughout the remainder of the day.

The IAA employees called the strike to demand changes to their work conditions.

In November, workers threatened to shut down Ben Gurion for 24 hours to protest moves by the Interior Ministry to charge the IAA municipal taxes. However, the demonstration was called off after Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and Histadrut Labor Federation head Avi Nissenkorn intervened.

The pair were able to convince union chief Pinhas Idan to delay any labor action until efforts are undertaken to reach a compromise to a dispute between the IAA and the Interior Ministry.