12-day El Al Strike Ends

The 12-day El Al strike ended officially last night when the airline employes accepted proposals for a settlement by Deputy Premier David Levy. Company sources said it would take several days before normal service is fully restored. (An El Al spokesman in New York said flights from New York and Miami would resume full operations tomorrow.)

The terms of the settlement reached remained unclear today and there appeared to be a wide gap between labor’s and management’s interpretation of what was agreed to. Moreover, Levy’s intervention on behalf of the government aroused the resentment of El Al board chairman Avraham Shavit and Histadrut. Shavit sent a letter of resignation today to Transport Minister Haim Corfu, which, he said, would become effective unless the full Cabinet affirmed its support of the El Al management which the government appoints.

Shavit is said to feel that Levy negotiated with the El Al employes without consulting management. Histadrut also claims it was by-passed and that Levy, who heads the Likud minority bloc in the trade union federation, acted to undermine the Labor Party leadership of Histadrut.

Meanwhile, the status of 18 flight engineers whose impending dismissal triggered the strike, remained unclear. Management had written a letter stating that the engineers’ jobs would become redundant when new aircraft are delivered early next year. Levy and the employes apparently agreed that the letter has “no validity.” Shavit retorted that since Levy was not a signatory of the letter, he could not withdraw it.

The El Al management insists that the letter was not a dismissal notice but an invitation to the trade union to negotiate. The employes said today that they no longer recognize the El Al management. They issued a statement saying, “The government our employer” and that they, the workers are now running the airline, not the government-appointed managers whom they no longer trust.