Tel Aviv protest
Photo: Motti Kimchi
Histadrut announces massive strike in southern Israel
Top union group to hold general strike from Ashdod to Eilat on Thursday in protest of government's neglect of periphery communities.
Israel's top union group, the Histadrut, announced on Tuesday a general strike will be held on Thuesday in cities and towns from Ashdod to Eilat, in an escalation of its fight against the neglect of the country's southern communities.
Many major public corporations will join the strike, including Israel Mail, the Eilat airport, the seaports in Ashdod and Eilat, the water company, the electric company, and the country's largest bus company – Egged – as well as local authorities, government offices, and several private-sector firms.
The national labor court in Jerusalem will convene a hearing on Wednesday to rule on a petition by manufacturing interest against the strike. If the court allows the Histadrut to commence with a general strike in the south to protest the recent crisis, it will mark the largest such operation since 2012, when the market was suspended in an attempt to improve working conditions of contract workers.
Southern workers protest in Tel Aviv (Photo: Noam "Dabul" Dvir)
Excluded from participation in the strike was Israel Railways, Women's International Zionist Organization and Na'amat services, and the healthcare and special education departments at the local authorities.
Protesters shut down major Tel Aviv avenue (Photo: Avi Cohen)
Among the private-sector companies expected to join the strike are energy providers Delek and Sonol, as well as several mining operations.
The Histadrut said the decision on where and when to hold the strike was taken at an emergency meeting with the chairman, Avi Nissenkorn, several union chiefs and heads of local Histadrut councils from the south.
"For years the state has allowed an entire region to suffer from a wave of terminations and sky-high unemployment; if we do not put an end to this now, the situation will only deteriorate," said Nissenkorn.
