Government and national institution employees throughout the country continued their partial strike for a second day today to protest what they termed plans to reduce their real wages. The employes reported for work but refused to deal directly with the public.
The union representing the civil servants said the government had promised in writing, exactly a year ago, to refrain from taking measures which would reduce real incomes. But plans to reduce overtime and cut back on travel allowances would cause a severe reduction, the union said, because car and travel allowances are normally regarded as an integral part of income.
Yesterday, the strike also affected the government press office, which issued official bulletins but did not provide foreign correspondents with translations of press articles and editorials as usual. The Foreign Ministry’s regular press briefing was also cancelled.
The week-long strike of stevedores at the nation’s ports continued today, but in reduced form. They began loading fruits and vegetables for shipment to European markets in time for Christmas, but at the port of Ashdod oranges and lemons were not loaded because the citrus marketing board personnel declared a strike today.
The strike of the stevedores resulted in the loss of millions of dollars to farmers. Tons of fruits and vegetables had to be destroyed after a week’s exposure on the docks. Hundreds of tons of produce were salvaged by being air-freighted to Europe, but this added to shipping costs and reduced farmers’ income. Today’s strike by the citrus marketing board personnel followed the announcement that a score of temporary workers were being dismissed.
UNIVERSITIES FACE CLOSEDOWN
Meanwhile, Israeli universities are facing a closedown tomorrow morning if sufficient government funds are not made available by midnight tonight. University representatives met today with Premier Yitzhak Shamir and Finance Minister Yigal Cohen-Orgad. Tel Aviv University president Yoram Dinstein, chairman of the Council of University Presidents, said Shamir had expressed understanding of the financial plight of the universities “but no tachlis (practical results) emerged.”
Dinstein said the universities need immediately some $50 million to enable them to continue research and teaching. “There’s time till midnight for him (Cohen-Orgad) to come up with some plans,” Dinstein said. The university presidents continued to remain in telephone contact with the Finance Minister during the day.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
