Israel: northern Israel Railways workers in wildcat strike

Israel Railways workers in Haifa conducted a wildcat strike this morning, Thursday Feb 5th, in response to fraud charges against official union members, and replacement of workers not loyal to management.

Submitted by Tojiah on February 5, 2009

The wildcat is said to have been organized by an unofficial union committee. The official union committee has ceased functioning since the beginning of a probe by police fraud sections of its leaders.

Train travel has been disrupted around Israel throughout the day, as Israel Railways claims it was "forced" to close all travel, not just to the north, due to safety reasons.

The Israeli Labor Court has demanded that workers return to work after their representatives failed to appear to a hearing called this morning. Union members who were involved in planning and executing the strike will be called to the Histadrut Court this afternoon to face disciplinary charges for conducting an unauthorized strike. It seems that work is slowly returning to normal, though service is still partial.

More information:

  • Israel National News (English)
  • Walla News ("Eini (head of Histadrut): I will remove those who organized the strike", Hebrew)
  • Walla News ("Labor Court demands that rail workers return to work", Hebrew)
  • Ynet News ("Railway workers ordered to resume operations", English)
  • Ynet News ("Railway workers: we will start a wildcat tomorrow", Hebrew) -- from Wednesday, the day before.

Comments

Tojiah

15 years 1 month ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Tojiah on February 6, 2009

Okay, I'm not sure if this is best done as an update or an article, but I got a lot of inside info from some guy I know. I'll have to edit and translate it, though the gist, in relation to this specific situation, isn't all that much.

Ex-temp

15 years 1 month ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Ex-temp on February 6, 2009

That's great tree, thank you. You could post it as a new news article called Israeli railways wildcat update or something, and just link to this one for the background. Thank you for covering this, and making an effort to check things out, it is really really appreciated!