Striking rail workers never intended to harm passengers,” the head of Israel Railways’ employee board said on Wednesday at a special Knesset committee hearing. “We came here in great pain,” Gila Edray told the Knesset Finance Committee. “We tried to find a solution – we even thought of taking passengers for free… but we aren’t allowed to do that.”
Edray accused Israel Railways executives of taking advantage of their workers, whom she said they described as “barbarians and criminals.” Asked why she continued the strike against partial privatization even after ordered against it by the Tel Aviv Labor Court, Edray said the workers had done so of their own accord.
Edray said she did not understand why the striking workers had not received more public support. “I don’t understand why it’s considered contempt of court if there’s a labor dispute, especially when one has permission from the Histadrut labor federation to wage a strike,” she told Army Radio. “The public is with us, ” she said. The one-day strike ended on Tuesday night, but a judge fined Edray and two other leaders of the employee board for ignoring the court order against a strike, and for turning up late to their court hearing. A Communist Party of Israel leading member, Binyamin Gonen, said public TV in Northern Israel: “We support striking rail workers struggle against privatization.”
The labor dispute was sparked by Railways executives’ decision earlier this week to outsource maintenance work to Bombardier – the Canadian conglomerate that manufactures its train cars – rather than keep the work in-house and provide low-income employees with additional pay.
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