Wednesday, March 21

Workers of Israel Unite!

The big strike is on, and rightfully so.

In several towns and villages salaries have not been paid for months.
Working municipal employees have been reduced to hunger, electricity cut-offs, and homelessness as banks repossessed their houses.
Not paying a salary on time is a crime, punishable by law.

Not paying salaries, or not paying them on time, or not paying enough, or not paying for all hours worked, has become very common, throughout the Israeli work force.

It is, very simple, completely unacceptable.

The poverty of some municipalities and local councils is not new and is related, in some cases, to irresponsible and even plainly bad management by mayors and well paid higher officials.
But employees should not be made to pay the price, whatever the reasons for the bad financial situation of the local governing institutions.

In many cases, poverty of the local councils is almost unpreventable: when there are very high unemployment rates, people are poor. They receive discounts or even exemptions from paying municipal taxes. In wealthy towns, there are industrial parks and office-towers and shopping centres, who pay business-rate municipal taxes, thereby supplying the municipalities with the needed financial resources for developing and providing services as needed. But many places are unable to attract well paying hi-tech ventures and industry. In fact. many traditional, labour intensive factories and workshops have been closed due to competition from factories and sweatshops in third world countries where horrid and degrading employment conditions allow for lower prices.

As a result, over time, poor towns become poorer, especially when they are not located in the centre of the country and do not attract industry. Small stores are closed, as a result of opening shopping centres outside of the municipal boundaries offering tough competition. Thus even less municipal taxes are paid.

In many Arab villages and towns, all land for developing has been disowned by the state or placed under the municipal responsibility of nearby (Jewish) towns and as a result, municipal taxes go to that municipality.

Whatever the reasons, hard working municipal employees should be paid their salaries. Period.








12 comments:

Anonymous said...

yudit,are you also on strike today in solidarity with the 3700 public workers who haven't been paid ????

IMO everyone incl Histradut/Gvt should should find a way to resolve this matter speedily , especially with Pesach around the corner.

And with Ben-Gurion Airport closed today,hopefully Brit soccer fans will reschedule to fly to Israel on Thurs or Fri to attend the England Vs Israel soccer match at Ramat Gan on Sat evening !!!

Now the ques is by how goals is England going to loose by :)

Lirun said...

i find this situation mind boggling and revolting.. i think each MK should go without pay for three months as a collective punishment for recklessly leaving the situation as is..

Anonymous said...

Ahh ... Haaretz reports that "Despite strike, England fans to arrive as planned" Wed., March 21, 2007 Nisan 2, 5767

All flights from England will be allowed to land in Ben-Gurion Airport, general strike notwithstanding, a senior Histadrut official told Haaretz last night after attending a meeting between Histadrut Chairman Ofer Eini and the heads of large unions. The chairman of the Israel Football Association, Avi Luzon, succeeded yesterday in persuading Eini to permit the English fans to land in Israel despite the strike, contrary to the labor federation chief's earlier decision to allow only the English team to land. Yesterday Eini met Airport Authority Chairman Pinhas Idan, and the two decided not to deny thousands of England fans to attend the game in Ramat Gan. "We're expecting from 5,000 to 7,000 English fans to arrive in an airlift from England," a senior Histadrut official said. "We will prepare accordingly. They will all be well treated in spite of the strike. We won't tarnish Israel's image in Europe and won't hinder the huge celebration planned here," he said. In an earlier concession, the Histadrut announced it would allow the English team to arrive in time to prepare for its showdown. Eini said he did not want to spoil the fun, and also Israel's chance of advancing.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/840086.html

OK !!!! so that's resolved.Now one has to sort out the workers wages pronto!

yudit said...

So far the strike includes the public sector only. As i do not work in the public sector (i'm mostly self employed as a freelancer) it does not yet apply to me, more over, i'm covering the strike as a photographer .
If the media will join the strike i will do so too

Anonymous said...

yudit, I can't find your contact information. please wrtie me to hanan@info.org.il

Anonymous said...

Is there a neglect in payment in the overall segments of the municipality
or do the managers have a different opinion about themselves.


Lirun you write like a politician who wants to collect votes.

Oh, and before I forget, soccer is for losers and other nudniks, dammit!

Anonymous said...

ahh.. Luke... the match should be very exciting!!

The soccer game starts at Ramat Gan Stadium in Tel Aviv Saturday, 24 March 2007 18:30 GMT or 8:30 pm Israel time

Anonymous said...

Now THIS is cool about Israel!!! :
Thursday, March 22, 2007
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2002390000-2007130027,00.html

Lirun said...

hahaha

dude.. all i want to collect is waves.. the sea is as flat as an ironing board right now..

craving the summer surf..

peace out..

Anonymous said...

Sonny, you are familiar with dyslexia?
Luke is the name (Dude?).

The lady writes about people who do have a lot of problems, no salary for the past months and your first comment to this is something outrageous unrealistic.

You do use your ironing-board to measure the waves?
No wonder things go down the drain in this country.

Anonymous, if you might reach my respectable age you will agree :
SOCCER SOCKS!

Anonymous said...

SOMETHING INSIDE SO STRONG

By Labi Siffre

The higher you build your barriers
The taller I become
The farther you take my rights away
The faster I will run
You can deny me
You can decide to turn your face away
No matter, cos there's ...

Something inside so strong
I know that I can make it
Tho'you're doing me wrong, so wrong
You thought that my pride was gone
Oh no, something inside so strong
Oh oh oh oh something inside so strong

The more you refuse to hear my voice
The louder I will sing
You hide behind the walls of Jericho
Your lies will come tumbling
Deny my place in time
You sqander wealth that's mine
My light will shine so brightly
It will blind you
Cos there's ..........

Something inside so strong
I know that I can make it
Tho'you're doing me wrong, so wrong
You thought that my pride was gone
Oh no, something inside so strong
Oh oh oh oh something inside so strong

Brothers and sisters
When they insist we're just not good enough
When we know better
Just look'em in the eyes and say
I'm gonna do it anyway
I'm gonna do it anyway

Lirun said...

luke papa dude..

:)

if i get as anxious as you appear to be.. i probably wont age much at all..

this is a blog.. in the blogosphere - where people are free to impulsively respond without applying corporate standards of quality control.. relevance and kudos..

i am familiar with dyslexia and in fact have it.. didnt stop me from graduating law school at the age of 20 without applying for a single concession.. whats your point..

:)

doesnt matter anyway.. its friday.. and i have just emailed my last work email for the day..

the strike seems to have been a farce.. i hope the remedy to the issues underlying its cause prove to be more substantial..

i am nevertheless grateful to the strikers for not causing unquantifiable damage to the rest of the hard workers of this challenging yet beloved country of mine..

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