Transportation minister threatens to shut down trains if workers go on strike

Another Israel Railways strike would lead him to shut down the national train service altogether, Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz announced Saturday.

Katz ratcheted up the rhetoric in his battle with the train workers union and the Histadrut Labor Federation in the wake of last week’s strike, saying, “If the strike goes on, I’ll shut down the train.”

“The negotiations have exhausted themselves, and they’re not over outsourcing anymore; they’re over control of the railways,” Haaretz quoted Katz as saying.

Train service was shut down across the country last Tuesday as workers protested against Israel Railways management’s intention to outsource some of the company’s maintenance services to external contractors.

Labor union chairman Ofer Eini petitioned the National Labor Court on Sunday to overturn an order blocking train employees from striking. Eini said that while generally undesirable, striking was the only way to prevent Israel Railways from supplanting regular employees with outsourced workers.