General strike begins, bringing Israel to a halt

The last-minute meeting between Ofer Eini, the head of the Histadrut Labor Federation and representatives of the finance ministry ended on Sunday night with no resolution, paving the way for a general strike on Monday.

The Histadrut, the umbrella organization for hundreds of thousands of public sector workers, wants the government to hire some 250,000 contract workers, who have inferior working conditions than civil workers directly on government payrolls.

"Unfortunately, the treasury stuck to its position this time as well, and we leave this meeting with no good news," Eini said. He added that "the only thing that can stop us is the Labor Court – and we hope that doesn't happen."

The Histadrut said the strike would begin at 6 A.M. on Monday and would also include trains, buses, universities, government ministries and municipalities. Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv will close at 8:00 A.M. local time. The strike would last indefinitely.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the Histadrut to cancel the planned strike, which would wreak havoc on travelers and commuters.

"I believe it is possible to find a responsible and just solution for the issue of temporary laborers [supplied by employment agencies]," Netanyahu said on Army Radio.

"We must bring a solution that will not harm the Israeli economy at a time when there is a global shake-up in all the world's economies," he said. "There is no need to disrupt the lives of Israelis. We must not risk what we have achieved with much work."

A strike would cause some NIS 330 million damage a day to the economy.