Four thousand workers of the Mekorot water company went on a 24-hour strike today to protest government plans to sell certain affiliates of the State-owned company to Histadrut’s giant construction cooperative, Solel Boneh. The strike did not affect Israel’s water supply as the workers agreed to a request by Minister of Agriculture Yosef Almogi to man the pumping stations, though on a reduced Saturday schedule.
Almogi has proposed the sale of the Mekorot affiliates because of their accumulated losses. The affiliates are engaged in land reclamation work and build dams and reservoirs. The Mekorot workers say the sale would give Solel Boneh a monopoly in these fields and would cause employes of the sub-companies to lose their jobs.
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