Minister of Transport Israel announced Monday measures to privatize Israel Railways, and he continues to threaten that if the workers continue to strike, he will shut down the railways.
“We will set up three companies that will deal with existing equipment, with cargo, and with business development of the railways,” Katz said at a press conference he called this afternoon, commenting on implementation of the agreement signed with Canadian Bombardier. “We formulated broad agreements on many things, but in the end the dispute is about who runs the railways. The Israel Railways management runs the railways, and the new rolling stock needs to be maintained in a different way. Today, a significant step has been taken towards restructuring the railways. I expect the workers to play their and not to harm the public.”
Katz repeated the threat that he has made in the past two weeks of shutting down the rail system. “If there are strikes, there will be no avoiding a shut down of the railway. Katz implied that the responsibility for the breakdown in negotiations lay with railway workers committee chair Gila Edri.
The press conference was called after Israel Railways workers committee chairwoman Edri broke up the negotiations on privatization between Railways management and the workers committee. The main bone of contention remains the railways’ organizational structure, mainly who will perform future train car maintenance – employees or an outside company. This kept the parties from finalizing an agreement over the weekend.
Related:
Rail strike delayed by 2 weeks to allow more talks
The Communist Party of Israel: We support striking rail workers struggle against privatization
