60,000 Civil Service Workers Be Gin a Three-day Strike

Numerous public services and facilities including rail and bus transportation were paralyzed today as some 60,000 civil service workers began a three-day strike in support of wage demands. This evening, employes of the Communications Ministry’s engineering department walked out in sympathy, leaving Israelis without radio or television programs except for news bulletins, and no repairmen for faulty telephones.

The strikers are insisting that their wage scale be brought to the level of other groups which have recently received upward adjustments to compensate for soaring prices. Finance Minister Simcha Ehrlich claimed there were political motives behind the strike, though he conceded that the civil servants supported it fully and were not prepared to negotiate. Ehrlich urged Histodrut to sit down with employers at the negotiating table. But Histodrut Secretary General Yeruham Meshel declared tonight that he would not meet with Ehrlich unless the Finance Minister takes decisive action to fight inflation which is the basic cause of the walkout.

Meanwhile, all government offices were shut down except the Defense Ministry. No passports or permits were issued. Tax offices were closed, holding up the flow of revenue to the Treasury. There were no postal services or any communications except for international telephone and telegraph operators who were ordered back to work by a labor court. Government hospitals were manned by skeleton staffs that admitted only emergency cases.

At Ben Gurion Airport, customs inspectors maintained a “symbolic” presence, meaning that anything could be smuggled in or out of the country. No trains were running and public transportation was brought to a virtual standstill when Egged bus drivers went on three-hour strike today for higher wages.

The drivers held their protest meetings after the morning rush hour. But thousands of riders were stranded for hours longer before normal service was resumed. Many settlements were cut off by the bus walkout. Tel Aviv, which is served by the Dan bus company, was spared the strike, but traffic was abnormally heavy and slow. The broadcast blackout was not complete. The Army Radio functioned as usual and Abie Nathan’s peace ship anchored off-shore, transmitted Kol Israel news.

The strike coincided with another wave of price increases mandated by the government. The price of cigarettes went up by 22.7 percent today; there was a 30 percent hike in the price of tea; 20 percent for plywood and 12 percent for locally made flour products. Another major blow for the public will be the increase in bus fare due to take effect in about two weeks.