Finance Ministry pledges cash, but not equal rights, to end strike

As national services ground to a halt on Wednesday morning, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz told Israel Army Radio that he is willing to provide large funding to improve minimum workers’ wages but not to change their employment conditions.

Steinitz said that accepting the Histadrut’s demands for improving the employment conditions of minimum wage workers would mean significant and unacceptable changes to the economy.

“We will not adopt a model that does not exist in any developed country in the world, including the Scandinavian countries,” Steinitz said in the interview. Pointing to the plunging economies in Europe, the finance minister noted that there are now wider issues that must also be taken into account.

“This is not an easy situation,” he said. “For the past three years we have been fighting to protect Israel’s economy and that must be taken into consideration too. The strike is a blow to the economy.”

While the Finance Ministry is prepared to fund increased wages it will not agree to improve the employment rights and conditions of contracted workers, such as cleaners and security staff, who are on minimum wages.

“We want to make smart moves, but not to change the whole economy,” he said.

Steinitz said that progress was made during the overnight meetings with labor representatives but that the latter’s inflexibility ultimately led to the strike action. A further round of meetings will be held on Wednesday afternoon to try and end the strike.