Israel Orders Striking Telephone Cable Workers Back to Work

Labor Minister Yigal Allon, in an unprecedented action, cracked down today on Israel’s three-day strike of communication workers with an order to the strikers to return to work or face fines or jail terms.

The interurban and international telephone exchange and cable operators walked out Monday in a strike for higher grading under the new Civil Service classification program. Under the emergency regulations, strikers face up to a year’s imprisonment for failing to obey return-to-work orders. A spokesman for the strikers said that “we will all go to jail but we will continue striking.”