Jerusalem Light Rail workers briefly strike
Drivers return to work after court orders them to end protest over new train schedule
Jerusalem light rail service returned to normal late Sunday morning after a strike that lasted several hours, during which drivers protested a new program that they said would worsen their working conditions.
In response to a request by the company operating the light rail, Citypass, a local labor court instructed the union and the drivers’ council to return to work immediately and adhere to the new schedules that the workers were protesting.
The new program aimed to increase the frequency of the train, so that trains would be arriving every six minutes during most hours of the day.
The workers claimed that the new program was decided on without their agreement. They said that it would negatively impact working conditions and prevent workers from being able to take breaks while decreasing the safety of passengers and pedestrians.
Citypass administration claimed, however, that the strike was called “due to tactical reasons only” as part of the workers’ demands for higher wages, even though current wages are higher than in other jobs in the field.
The administration insisted that the new program would improve, not harm, the workers’ conditions, and that the workers were only striking in order to “hold onto a bargaining chip.”
Citypass added that “it is unacceptable for the drivers’ council and the union to cause a complete stoppage of an entire city and hold the community of 140,000 daily commuters hostage.”
The company administration said that the drivers’ behavior constituted “repulsive bullying.”
The brief strike was announced on the same day that work on the Tel Aviv light rail was scheduled to begin.
