Protesting violence, Egged drivers stage 3-hour strike in Jerusalem, Haifa, Rehovot
Action taken at regional offices servicing lines where assaults on drivers had occurred recently; transport company condemns move as ‘reckless’; union: ‘Cannot remain indifferent’
Cnaan Lidor is The Times of Israel's Jewish World reporter
Egged bus drivers staged a flash strike early Sunday in parts of Jerusalem, Haifa and Rehovot to protest rising violence against them.
Management at the country’s largest bus operator condemned the action, which disrupted services for about three hours starting from 4:30 a.m.
“The Histadrut labor union and the Egged Workers’ Committee engaged in wild and reckless bullying, hurting without any apparent probable cause tens of thousands of passengers on the busiest morning of the week,” Egged said in a statement.
“We are doing everything to stop this unacceptable action against Egged passengers,” the statement read.
The strike happened at three regional offices of Egged servicing lines where assaults on drivers had occurred recently.
“We apologize for the inconvenience to passengers, but we cannot remain indifferent to management’s failure to address violence against drivers, and additional issues,” read a statement by the Histadrut labor federation.
The statement said that the disruptions were due to “informational meetings” between drivers and the heads of the Egged Workers’ Committee that went on until 5:30 a.m., and noted that service was gradually resumed starting at 6:45 a.m.
There have been multiple assaults in recent months on bus drivers and transportation companies’ employees, mostly by passengers. Some incidents revolved around bus fares, while others involved passenger vandalism or other forms of misconduct.
Earlier this week, Transportation Minister Miri Regev announced a plan for installing security glass partitions around the driver cabins of all new public transportation vehicles. But the plan does not address the thousands of buses already in service.
Regev also said she is promoting regulations and legislation that would carry extra penalties for perpetrators of violence against public transportation providers.
The news site Walla quoted one alleged victim of passenger violence, identified only as Haniya, a conductor in the Haifa region.
Haniya said a passenger choked her after she tried to collect a fare of NIS 5.5 (approximately $1.50) that he had failed to pay upon boarding the bus.
“An ambulance took me to the emergency room, barely able to breathe. But I went back to work. I can’t stop thinking about what happened but I have to provide for my daughters,” the conductor said.
