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Sources inform ''Globes'' that Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor Shalom Simhon will not sign a directive extending yesterday's agreement reached between the Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) and the Economic Organizations Liaison Bureau on the direct employment of contract workers. He will not even sign a partial directive, unless he receives explicit permission from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Simhon's bureau confirmed the report, and said that the minister will notify Histadrut chairman Ofer Eini and Economic Organizations Liaison Bureau chairman Shraga Brosh of his decision. This is why Eini has announced that the general strike will continue until he hears from Netanyahu that he supports Simhon.
"If the prime minister agrees, the strike will be over," said Eini.
As of web-posting, representatives of the government, the Histadrut, and employers are at a session of the National Labor Court, providing their versions of the issues in dispute and the agreements reached.
No hiring of contract workers
Simhon is not discussing a full expansion directive in any case, but only a clause in the agreement that stipulates equalizing the conditions of contract workers with those of regular employees with the lowest pay grades.
Yesterday, Netanyahu announced that he had asked Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein for an opinion on the matter. If Weinstein does not oppose a partial expansion directive, Netanyahu will probably approve it, overriding the objections in principle of the Ministry of Finance.
This means that the main sections of the Histadrut-Economic Organizations Liaison Bureau agreement relating to the direct hiring of contract workers in what is defined as "core areas" will not apply to the public sector. Simhon's aides say that he does not believe that he has the authority to change government policy on employment methods on his own, including outsourcing.
In the absence of a full expansion directive, private employers who are not members of organizations affiliated with the Economic Organizations Liaison Bureau will not be bound by the agreement's paragraphs on the hiring contract workers. This includes members of the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce, headed by Uriel Lynn, and employers that are not members of any organization.
However, these companies will be bound by the equalization of conditions clause. This means, for example, that a contract employee at a bank will have salary terms and benefits equivalent in value to those of employees with the lowest pay grades at the bank.
The issue becomes even more complicated. Simhon's refusal to issue an expansion directive for the direct hiring of contract workers puts in question the agreement in principle reached between the Histadrut and the Economic Organizations Liaison Bureau. Although the draft agreement does not state that the agreement is conditional on the issuing of an expansion directive, the Economic Organizations Liaison Bureau is already concerned that its members will not ratify the agreement. This is why it is demanding the directive. If a directive is only issued for the equalization of salary conditions, the Liaison Bureau's members will probably only be bound by this clause of the agreement, and not the clauses requiring the direct employment of contract workers.
Until now, the Histadrut has insisted on the direct hiring of contract workers as the best way of improving their standing, and Histadrut officials downplayed proposals to equalize conditions. However, the Histadrut is now talking differently, possibly because Simhon is leaving it no choice.
Top Histadrut officials are saying that the equalization of conditions for contract workers to the conditions of a workplace's lowest pay grade is no less than "historic". The union says that raising the cost of hiring contract workers will create a disincentive in the private sector for the hiring of contract workers, since also affects the contractor's profits.
Disruptions continue at Ben Gurion Airport
The general strike began at 6 am today. No trains ran, government hospitals operated on emergency schedules, and many workplaces were closed. Although the strike at Ben Gurion Airport ended at noon, customs employees continued to disrupt regular operations afterwards as "their contribution to struggle of the contract workers".
Customs and VAT Division national workers committee chairman Samia Salah told "Globes" that customs employees would intensify their sanctions and delay goods at customs, creating overload by disrupting inspections and the release of goods, making the entire procedure "more difficult". "I strongly hope that this matter will be behind us by this afternoon, and that we won't have to further intensify the sanctions, but we will do what is necessary in this struggle," he said.
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