The dispute between Israel's government and its largest labor union, the Histadrut, over the latter's decision to launch a general strike in support of a hostage deal, reached courts in two separate proceedings, with the labor court ruling that the strike would end at 2:30 p.m., local time, on Monday.
The first proceeding is an injunction request to Israel's Labor Court to end the strike. The request was filed by the State Attorney's Office on behalf of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, with the consent of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Smotrich's argument was that the strike was intended to influence government policy on an issue unrelated to worker's rights or other issues that directly affected workers, and was thus an abuse of power and illegal.
The second proceeding was an appeal to the High Court of Justice against the legal status of a number of family members of fallen soldiers from the Gvura Forum, and of the Tikva Forum, which includes a number of families of hostages in Hamas captivity. The Gvura forum filed a separate appeal to the Labor Court as well.
The legal challenges came as reports indicated that the Histadrut is considering extending the strike to Tuesday as well.
Threat of salary cuts
In an attempt to sway workers from participating in the strike, Smotrich announced on Sunday evening that workers who went on strike would not receive salaries for the day, and will not be reimbursed later on, as often happens in similar situations.
In parallel, Negev and Galilee Development Minister Yizhalk Wasserlauf penned a letter to Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Knesset Constitution Committee Chairman MK Simcha Rothman requesting that they launch legislation to update class action laws so that they will enable workers and civilians to sue the Histadrut for damages suffered due to the strike.