Israelis will be able to get their favorite newspapers tomorrow after two days in which no papers were printed because of a nationwide strike. But they still won’t be able to get any news on radio and television except for the lone army radio station.
The Israel Journalists Federation and the publishers organization announced it had reached an interim agreement today in which the journalists would get a 25 percent wage hike during the next three months while the two sides try to work out a final agreement.
The radio and television journalists, meanwhile, are government employes and come under the government’s wage policy. Finance Minister Simcha Ehrlich said today he will deal with the broadcast journalists the same way he has with the Israeli merchant seamen who have been on strike for more than three months. “Let the strike be prolonged,” he said. “What the government can give, it will give without a strike. What it cannot give, it won’t give even under pressure of a strike.”
The newspaper employes were called back to work today by announcements over the army radio so that the morning newspapers could be published tomorrow. Meanwhile, the government has authorized the Defense Ministry to issue back to work orders to journalists employed by the army station to ensure that there will be at least one station to supply news to Israeli soldiers in south Lebanon and along the borders.
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