VZCZCXRO0491
RR RUEHROV
DE RUEHTV #0866 0791636
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 201636Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0115
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE

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. 
 
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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 
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JONES