Employees of the daily Maariv were ordered to return to work on Wednesday by the Tel Aviv District Court, after they had walked off the job Tuesday night over a dispute with the paper’s new owner, Shlomo Ben-Zvi. Maariv workers decided on Tuesday night to strike, refusing to print the Wednesday morning edition of Israel’s second-biggest-selling newspaper or update its website.
The workers are protesting expected layoffs and salary cuts from new owner Shlomo Ben Zvi, who already owns the smaller extreme right-wind Makor Rishon newspaper. In addition to protesting the expected layoffs and pay cuts — which would violate the workers’ collective bargaining agreement with the newspaper — the workers are also demanding clarifications on Ben Zvi’s plans for the many magazines, sections and secondary publications in the Maariv chain.
Maariv newsroom: “Strike!” (Photo: Journalist’s Union)
Also, four senior employees of Israel’s Channel 10 on Wednesday demonstrated in the Finance Ministry building and refused to leave the premises, in protest at the impasse in negotiations to find a solution for the TV channel’s ongoing financial woes. The chairman of the Channel 10 board, Avi Balashnikov, who was among the protesters, sent a text message to the TV station’s employees that said, “The channel’s management and I refuse to leave the Treasury’s general accounting office! Told not to leave the place until closing. Dozens of employees will join later.”
Noting that they had brought enough food and water to last them a few days, Balashnikov signed off by saying: “No salaries! No closure! Not leaving the building!” A number of Channel 10 staffers rallied outside the Finance Ministry building, voicing their support for management. The channel is deep in debt and has been threatened with closure for several months In August, Channel 10 sacked 150 staffers, about one-third of its manpower. On Wednesday, 150 TV local news employees and journalists demonstrated also in front of the Treasury in Jerusalem.
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