Israeli workers strike `until further notice'

Some 700,000 Israeli workers walked off the job on December 3 in a general strike that will continue “until further notice”. Among the wide range of sectors hit by the strike are oil refineries, gas companies, banks and the Israel Electric Company.

The General Federation of Labour in Israel (Histadrut) had been in lengthy negotiations with the Ministry of Finance over government plans for major privatisation projects and pension scheme cuts.

The talks ceased on December 1, Histadrut says, when “the minister of finance described workers as `enemies of the state' and `ticking bombs'. This incensed the workers and their representatives and resulted in the declaration of an immediate, countrywide general strike.”

The indefinite strike is also to express “opposition to the government's budget proposals, which will put all the burden of the economic moves on the shoulders of the poor and the workers”. Histadrut says public reaction to the strike has been “very positive”.

Histadrut is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions.

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