Following months of heated negotiations over salaries and working conditions, a collective agreement was signed Thursday, November 19, between CityPass and the Histadrut Labor Federation representing Jerusalem’s light rail workers. The agreement – which will raise the salaries of most tram operators by 21.5 percent, to NIS 44 an hour through 2019 – comes one week after Light Rail workers threatened a second strike in two months.
A strike planned for November 10 was averted when a Jerusalem District Labor Court judge issued a seven-day injunction against 70 employees who vowed not to show up for work unless their demands were met. The order demanded that both sides immediately resume negotiations. This month’s planned strike came less than six weeks after a short-lived de facto strike was waged by light rail employees who called in sick. Jerusalem Histadrut head Danny Bonfil said the strikes were called after six months of failed negotiations.
Yet another labor agreement was reached following the imposing of sanctions by workers at Israel Railways. The Lod depot and Haifa fuel station were on strike, and the Hod Hasharon to Beersheva routes were slated to be shut down last week. The workers’ committee justified its actions citing unilateral decisions taken by management to transfer dozens of employees from Lod to Beer Sheva without their rights being properly addressed. The workers’ committee contacted Israel Railways CEO Boaz Tzafrir last Thursday, November 12, and demanded that he intervene to prevent any possible harm to employees and passengers. The workers’ committee stated: “Company management has decided to injure workers by acting unilaterally to retract agreements already reached. Due to management’s provocative and aggressive actions, we have been forced to begin organizational measures. We call on management to come to its senses and prevent any harm from befalling workers or passengers, and return to serious negotiations.”
A workers’ strike at Israel’s main international airport came to an end Thursday morning just hours after it began, causing minor delays. Four flights were delayed Thursday because of the move, including El Al flight 007 to New York, which had already boarded hundreds of passengers. The Histadrut declared a labor dispute in the Airports Authority due to what it called the management’s foot-dragging over negotiations toward a new collective wage agreement. Airport workers are also concerned about the new, hi-tech control tower being built at Ben-Gurion, as the union’s current workforce may be unable to handle manning both the new and old tower, the latter of which will not be closed down.
