Labor action is implemented after month-long talks make no progress on privatization of rail maintenance.
By JPOST.COM STAFF, GLOBESIsrarail train Bombardier 311(photo credit: Bombardier)
The Histadrut labor federation announced Thursday that Israel Railway workers will stage strikes throughout the coming week. According to the Histadrut, trains will stop running throughout the country on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.The one-day-on one-day-off strike will continue until further notice, the Histadrut said.
The decision to stop rail traffic was taken after month-long negotiations between Histadrut Chairman Ofer Eini and Israel Railways Director-General Uri Yogev made no progress on the issue of privatizing maintenance work on new rail cars."It seems even at the highest levels, management is not ready to accept any offer we've made and it is insisting on bringing contract workers," Public Transportation Workers Union head Avi Aderi said.Israel Railways responded, saying the company needs to undergo change and is putting forward necessary structural changes in order to reach its goals and provide better service to riders.It strongly rebuked accusations that the company was attempting to privatize its work force. "As we've emphasized in the past, we have no privatization plan, there will not be any harm to current rail workers - not in their wages or in their places of work."
