The port workers’ union and the Histadrut Labor Federation announced on Sunday morning that ports in Ashdod, Haifa and Eilat will be going on strike with no set timeframe after negotiations over pension funds failed to yield results.

The most important employers’ organization, the Israel’s Manufacturers’ Association, has motioned the National Labor Court to issue an injunction against the strike. The industrialist’s association requested an urgent hearing on the matter to be held Sunday afternoon in order to stop the strike and end the disruptions in the ports’ activity in the past two weeks.

The employees are demanding that their pension funds be removed from the Israel Ports Development and Assets Company accounts and be entrusted into a trust fund. They are also demanding that their pension fund allocations be increased and calculated according to the average basic salary in recent years.  The Histadrut’s main demand is focused on the way the workers’ pension funds are managed. The Histadrut claims that the funds are in the Ports Company accounts and are in danger if the Company enters any financial difficulties. The employees are demanding that the funds be held in a trust fund until a central pension fund is created along the lines of the fund set up for the Airport Authority employees.

Earlier this month, the Israel Railways union announced a strike against privatization, freezing the country’s national train service only one day after days-long a nationwide general strike was called off after an agreement was reached by the Finance Ministry and Histadrut labor federation.