The unscheduled strike was called over a delay in the signing of a January wage agreement and because of a dispute with the Finance Ministry over port retirees’ pensions
An unscheduled strike called at Israel’s three maritime gateways last Thursday morning ended one hour after it began, following the intervention of Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) chairman Ofer Eini.
The unscheduled strike was called over a delay in the signing of a January wage agreement and because of a dispute with the Finance Ministry over port retirees’ pensions. The strike ended about one hour after it began, after Histadrut chairman announced he had reached an agreement with the Finance Ministry and talks continued.
Port workers were to receive a pay rise of 3% for each of the next two years under the agreement reached between the Finance Ministry and the Histadrut in January.
The Histadrut disputes the linkage to the CPI from the date the labor contract is signed, and is demanding retroactive linkage for the pensions from 2008, the date when all civil service pensions were linked to the CPI.
Finance Ministry said in a statement that port workers’ representatives only raised their demands over the pensions for the first time at a meeting on Wednesday night. Finance Ministry called the strike “irresponsible and unjustified,” since representatives of the port workers had denied a request to allow it a few days to examine the matter.
