Jerusalem municipal workers call off strike as layoffs rescinded

Jerusalem’s municipal employees agree to end their strike, which resulted in piles of garbage strewn throughout the city as officials from the city and the finance and interior ministries launched talks on resolving the capital’s budget woes.

Jerusalem’s municipal services were shut down much of the day as city employees began an open-ended strike to protest the firing of some 2,150 workers amid a budget dispute with the Finance Ministry.

Mayor Nir Barkat ordered the layoffs due to the budget showdown with the Finance Ministry, which he said was withholding hundreds of millions of shekels in needed funds for Israel’s poorest city.