General strike would cost NIS 600m per day, Kahlon warns

Row over public-sector pay raises goes down to the wire as all-out industrial action on Wednesday looms

By ToI Staff 21 December 2015, 11:37 pm

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Histadrut labor federation leader Avi Nissenkorn (left) and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon (right) shake hands during talks on December 21, 2015, aimed at avoiding a general strike over public-sector wages. (screen capture: Channel 2)

Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon warned Monday that a general strike would cost Israel’s economy NIS 600 million ($154 million) per day, as treasury and Histadrut labor union officials battled against the clock to reach a new public-sector wage deal.

The union is threatening to launch a strike Wednesday that would close all schools and government offices, hit air, rail and bus transport, and put hospitals and clinics on a skeleton staff.

“A strike declaration at the climax of negotiations is completely unnecessary and will harm the general public,” Kahlon told Channel 2 television. “There’s no reason or need to punish the citizens of Israel.”

The Histadrut is demanding an 11 percent wage hike, Channel 2 said.

The Finance Ministry is opposed to a blanket raise, and wants an agreement based on shekels — rather than on percentages — to ensure that poorer earners get bigger raises to help close socioeconomic gaps.

The agreement under negotiation will cover the period 2013-2018. It will be paid retroactively to the day on which the agreement takes effect, and will include a one-time compensation payment for the delay in reaching a deal.

The last wage agreement, sealed in November 2010, provided for a 6.25% increase over three and a half years, plus a one-off sum of NIS 2,000 for each worker.

“We are at a one-time window of opportunity to narrow social gaps,” Kahlon said, “and therefore we insist that the pay increases get to those who really need them, not as happened in previous years. We insist that people earning the lower salaries get more. Anything else will lead to widening of social gaps. There is no point in the wage raises going again to high earners, and we’re sure that in the Histadrut they understand this too.”

Channel 2 said the government was already prepared to submit a court injunction against any strike.

Histadrut Chairman Avi Nissenkorn said the labor union would “not lend its hand to the effort to separate one group of workers from another. The strike isn’t the end, but the means to give a voice to approximately one million wage earners who don’t [have enough money to] get through the month. The state has to look after the weak and the middle classes.”