NATIONAL STRIKE IN ISRAEL COULD SHUT DOWN AIRPORTS

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000866 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ELAB IS PGOV SUBJECT: NATIONAL STRIKE IN ISRAEL COULD SHUT DOWN AIRPORTS STARTING WEDNESDAY REF: A) 2006 TEL AVIV 4695 B) 2007 TEL AVIV 835 - NOTAL ¶1. (SBU) The National labor congress, Histadrut, will launch a full-fledged nationwide strike on March 21 that will shut down airports, seaports, land crossings and railroads. In a March 20 meeting with Labor Reporting Officer (LRO), Government Employees Union Chairman Ariel Yacobi claimed that PM Olmert had reneged on promises to Histadrut chairman Eini (Ref A and Ref B). Unless the government offers a guarantee that it would pay the missing salaries and pension payments owed to more than 5000 municipal and religious council employees in full by the end of the week, Yacobi said the strike would begin as promised at 0600 on March 21. Sanitation and electrical workers would be among the unions joining the transportation sector, according to Yacobi, who told LRO that the private sector -- as well as quasi-governmental organizations, such as the Bank of Israel, which recently suspended its strike to continue negotiations -- would not be part of this walkout. Buses, banks and the stock market will operate as usual, according to Israeli press reports. ¶2. (SBU) Yacobi emphasized that Israel "can't have a democratic society without rules," and accused Olmert of failing to comply with court orders to pay back salaries to employees of 37 municipalities. Yacobi said he had anticipated that PM Olmert would solve the problem, given the "low" sums of money involved -- 100 million NIS (about USD 25 million) would be enough to cover the missing salaries and pension payments, in his view. Yacobi also noted that Arab towns were disproportionately affected and Jewish towns were more likely to be "take care of" by the government. The Minister of Interior, Ronnie Bar-On, who oversees municipal affairs within the GOI, reported to Israeli Army Radio on March 20 that most of the unpaid workers would receive their wages on March 20, and that the only employees who will not be paid are those belonging to local authorities that have run up large deficits. ********************************************* ******************** Visit Embassy Tel Aviv's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/telaviv You can also access this site through the State Department's Classified SIPRNET website. ********************************************* ******************** JONES