Katz on collision course with railway workers

The Israeli government is embarking on a collision course with the Israel Railways workers committee. That is the clear and present result of today's press conference by Minister of Transport Israel Katz, in which for the first time he spelled out what the government has been saying behind closed doors for a long time: We've had it up to here. We cannot continue putting people's lives in the hands of aggressive workers who operate a critical public service with criminal negligence.

Katz is considered one of the more cautious politicians on the Israeli public scene. He does not conceal his support of the strong unions at the seaports and airports. By joining the battle against the railways, he is breaking the mold. In private conversations, he said that he cannot understand the Railways workers committee. Instead of supporting large development plans, which would increase Israel Railways' work force, the workers committee automatically fights against any change that management wants to institute.

Katz says that the string of recent train accidents finally persuaded him. He spoke about a mother who forbade her soldier daughter to take train fearing for her safety. If there are passengers unafraid of taking the train, it's only because they have no idea that they are in jeopardy.

A small example: in the past three years, 28 railway carriages have been damaged because locomotives travelled too fast when hooking up, in complete contravention of the regulations. Each carriage is sent by ship to Europe for repairs, because Israel Railways employees refuse to allow the construction of an Israeli repair shop. The cumulative cost of this is estimated at NIS 40 million. How many railway workers have been punished? Zero.

At Israel Railways there is no law and no judge. This is not an excuse, but the declared policy of the workers committee.

The Israel Railways workers committee forbids employees to sign repairs that they have made, so that management cannot know who is responsible for the serious safety faults that have occurred. The employees in general, and the train drivers in particular, lack the proper professional training. There is no supervision or minimal order.

The result is anarchy. Train drivers shoot red lights, act rowdily in the driver's cab, and leave engines running over the weekend in utter indifference to the damage to the company or passengers' lives.

Katz has so far refrained from declaring a full-scale reform at Israel Railways. He has been scrupulously satisfied with passenger safety. But the Rubicon has been crossed, the confrontation has begun, and how it will develop cannot be known. If Katz decides to shut down Israel Railways, it will be a long closure, but it might be the best solution for the Israeli public.