Ashdod Port's board calls for an intervention by national ports reform committee

The port directors called upon the government to convene the national port reform committee to discuss the workers' demands. Lately workers intensified work slowdown
 
Emergency meeting held last week by the Ashdod port board of directors following news that employees at Ashdod Port Company Ltd. had decided to intensified labor sanctions and go on strike with the backing of the Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel).
 
The port directors called upon the government to convene the national port reform committee to discuss the workers' demands.
 
The port workers are demanding compensation for additional work that the port management had imposed on certain dock teams.
 
At the middle of last week port workers intensified the work slowdown undertaken in the past two weeks, and stopped unloading container ships.
 
Ashdod port management refuses to let the joint management-workers production council decide the amount of compensation, but says that the Ministry of Finance Director of Wages should decide the issue.
 
Histadrut transport union chairman Avi Edri wrote to Ashdod Port CEO Shuky Sagis that management's position contravened collective labor agreements signed as part of the ports reform.
 
The Manufacturers Association called upon Dr. Udi Nissan, Director of the Government Companies Authority to intervene in order to bring an end to the dispute.