Representatives of the Israel Bond Organization and the Community and Social Agency Employes, Local 1707, AFL-CIO will meet tomorrow in an effort to avert a strike by 500 professional and clerical workers at 60 branches of the Israel Bond Organization. A spokesman for the bond organization told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the demands of the union were “inordinately high” and that “the State of Israel cannot afford to grant them.” Erik Strong, representing Local 1707, told the JTA that “we are hopeful of avoiding another strike, but management has resumed its customary intransigent position.” The union has threatened to go on strike at midnight next Friday if a new contract is agreed on by then, Strong said. The Israel Bond Organization spokesman said negotiations were continuing and “we hope that a satisfactory settlement can be reached before the expiration of the contract.” Strong noted that there were walkouts of several days each at contract time in 1967 and 1969 because employes then, as now, refused to work without a contract.
Strong said that in a secret ballot last week, the workers voted to “remain steadfast1′ by “an overwhelming” margin. He also stated that negotiations have been going on for four weeks and that the two sides were “still far apart on most issues.” Strong said that the local was asking “substantial increases” over what he said was the current $95-a-week minimum and a $14,000-a-year average. He said that the health plan provided by management was considered “not bad” by the workers but that the pension plan was considered “useless.” The workers, he noted, were basing their demands for pay increases on the increase of the contributions to Israel Bond Organization which rose from $105 million annually to $175 million annually over the past four years. The Israel Bond Organization spokesman stated that the demands of the union would mean an additional cost of $20,000 for each professional employe over the next two years in salary increases, severance pay increase, insurance and other fringe benefits. For administrative employes, he said, the additional cost for each would be $19,000 annually and for clerical workers it would be $10,000.
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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.
