Trash piling up in Netanya
Photo: Ido Erez
Local authorities strike comes to an end after one day
While the Finance Ministry is still trying to reach understandings with municipality heads over budget cuts, the two sides decided to halt the strike and resume negotiations on Sunday.
The strike in local authorities that started on Wednesday morning has ended after the Treasury and municipality heads agreed to halt the strike and resume negotiations on Sunday morning.
The strike, which included 80 municipalities across the country, was launched at 6am Wednesday over government intention to carry out a cross-ministerial NIS 1.2 billion cut that would take NIS 230 million from local authorities.
Trash piling up in Netanya as municipalities go on strike (Photo: Ido Erez)
The strike included City Hall services, welfare services, trash disposal, parking enforcement officers, children's school transportation, kindergartens and high schools. In addition, there was no secretary, health inspector or custodial services in elementary schools.
Negotiations took place throughout Tuesday and well into the night between heads of several municipalities and high-ranking officials in the Finance Ministry and Prime Minister's Office, but the sides failed to reach any understandings.
Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon's office issued a statement on Wednesday morning that "government representatives have done all they could to prevent the strike and to allow the children of Israel to go to kindergarten and school. However, the prime minister and finance minister would not agree to breaking from the budget's framework."
Haim Bibas, the head of the Center for Local Authorities, said at the outset of the strike that "there are 190 weakened municipalities that the Treasury of the State of Israel has decided to ensure would stay weakened. We're talking about a sum of NIS 180 million in balancing grants that means there are some municipalities that without this budget cannot start the year."
