Nearly 2,000 Haifa stevedores conducting a costly slow down since Sunday, widened their demands today in defiance of orders of the Histadrut, Israel’s Labor Federation, to return to work.
The stevedores began their action, which has left more than 20 vessels waiting to be unloaded in the harbor, in protest against what they claimed were excessive prices for meals. The Histadrut told them to halt their slowdown and permit the issue to be settled through negotiation.
A committee of the dockworkers today broke off contacts with the Histadrut, and demanded that foremen be classified as technicians for wage scales for port workers. Later the workers said they would talk only to a Ministerial committee and would resume work only if such a committee were appointed. Histadrut newspapers warned that the labor federation’s position was being endangered by the dockworkers’ defiance.
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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.