With Lapid and union chief at odds, strike looking inevitable
Histadrut leader refuses to back down on demands for minimum wage hike, non-contract employment for civil servants, intergation of disabled workers into job market; Lapid: Progress has been made.
A senior Finance Ministry source is convinced that there will be a strike next week, as the Histadrut labor federation will not back down on its demands over contract workers and raising the minimum wage.
Histadrut chairman Avi Nissenkorn made it clear during a stormy meeting Monday in the office of Finance Minister Yair Lapid that he is not going to drop his demands to raise the minimum wage by NIS 1,000 per month and for thousands of contract workers in the civil service to be made employees of the state. The Finance Ministry and employers association, however, refuse to comply with these requirements in their current formulation.
During the meeting, which was also attended by Zvika Oren, the president of the Manufacturers Association of Israel and the Federation of Israeli Economic Organizations, Lapid said that the Treasury would raise the minimum wage, but only for those earning NIS 4,300 per month and who do not receive additions to their salary. Those additions take some people on the minimum wage up to a pre-tax salary of more than NIS 10,000, Lapid said, insisting that those employees would not see a pay rise.
The finance minister added that he has been working for some time to reduce economic inequality and will continue to do so. So far, Lapid has not presented a position on the status of the contract workers, but in response to a further requirement by the Histadrut regarding the absorption of workers with disabilities into the labor market, Lapid said that steps had been underway "for a long time" on this issue and that there was no cause for dispute.
Oren warned, however, that raising the minimum wage rate to too high a level would result in higher unemployment, and that carefully examine the whole issue to upload benefit and not harm the economy.
Searching for compromise
Nissenkorn also took issue with the fact that over the past decade, Israel's GDP has grown by tens of percentage points, while the benefits have only been felt by captains of industry. Israel today has less investment in welfare, health and education, he said.
"People talk about checks and balances, but they have been violated time and against and we have to restore them," he said. "If a fight is needed, then we will fight. The strike is merely a means to an end and that end is better conditions."
The Histadrut chairman also questioned the rationale behind keeping civil servants as contract workers instead of direct employees of the state.
"I do not understand how teachers, nurses and doctors are contract workers," he said. "The government, Cabinet, the finance minister, they have to decide what we want to have here - a state of poor people, a nation of contract workers, a country that disregards the weak?" The government must set its path and not shy away, he said.
"I chose for the Histadrut to be a social movement," Nissenkorn added. "This is not just a slogan. I deliberately did not go for a general dispute but rather focused on three specific things – minimum wage, contract workers and those with disabilities - to prove that you can make specific changes."
Nissenkorn also lambasted the government on Monday over the issue of employment of workers with disabilities, telling the Knesset's Labor and Social Affairs Committee that, "the fact that the state has not taken on a minimum of 3 percent, as per the agreement signed with the private sector, is an incomprehensible badge of shame.
"This is part of the overall dispute, and I will not end the dispute until this issue is resolved," he said. "I asked the finance minister to assign to the Employment Service 12 employees with disabilities, who would work on integrating people with disabilities. The finance minister promised that he would allocate eight. In the end, you did assign two, which is shameful, and I will not rest until you assign at least all eight."
At the end of the meeting, the Histadrut chairman concluded that were still "large gaps." But he vowed that he would not back down until the union's demands were met, on the grounds that "they are the only way to close the gaps and take care of the weaker populations in the country."
Lapid, however, claimed at the end of the meeting that, "progress has been made and we hope the gaps will shrink in the coming days."
Following the meeting, all three participants agreed on the establishment of joint working teams to focus intensively on reaching a compromise, although it was reportedly apparent that the chances of this were very low. Another meeting will be arranged on Thursday, with the same participants – Lapid, Nissenkorn and Oren.
Minimum dignity
Meanwhile, a new study released this week shows that a single person without children needs to NIS 4,661 per month to live in dignity. This amount is higher than the minimum wage, which currently stands at NIS 4,300.
According to the study, couples without children would need 6,526 shekels, not including rent. A family with two children needs NIS 11,300 to survive, and a family with three children needs NIS 13,700.
The study, by the Institute for Civic Responsibility at the College for Academic Studies in Or Yehuda, indicates that in order to live in dignity, the minimum wage should be at least NIS 5,600.
Researchers carrying out the study said Monday that a further NIS 200 to NIS 500 per month is not enough meet the minimum requirements for living in dignity.
