Yeruham Meshel, the new Secretary General of Histadrut, at a press conference today during his first official visit to the United States, said that the Histadrut is demanding action on the part of the government to stop inflation in Israel. “Inflation,” Meshel said, “Is a national problem and can only be stopped by national unity.”
Meshel was asked by the JTA what the labor federation is doing to stem the tide of the inflation that has caused such economic and social stress in Israel. Meshel replied that the Histadrut is making demands on the government to “take away from the rich parts of society and to diminish profits.” He also said that the government must collect taxes from companies, manufacturers and self-employed in order to even out the tax structure so that all pay their equal share.
Inflation and spending were the main topics of Meshel’s address and a subject most frequently brought up by reporters. Meshel advocated higher taxes on what he termed luxury items and urged a realistic view of Israel. “We must face the reality that we are a poor country. Israel will be better understood if we live in a style that we can afford,” he said. Commenting further about the economic situation in Israel, Meshel said that manufacturers cannot continue to foist their increased cost of production onto the consumer. Solving the problem of inflation will be painful, he noted. “The problem is to divide the pain.”
ARAB, ISRAELI UNIONISTS SHOULD MEET
As a guest of Victor Riesel on his WEVD-Radio “Talk of New York” program, Meshel, along with Jacob Sheinkman, secretary-treasurer of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, called for meetings between Israeli and Arab trade unionists.
Meshel questioned why the Arab trade unionists “were not willing to speak to us.” He said that “we are prepared to sit down at the table and talk. If they would just sit down and talk with us instead of shooting and we pushed both sides around the table, we could resolve many of our problems.” Meshel also said that he would like to see the establishment of a Middle East Common Market. On Aug. 9, Meshel will be the guest of the AFL-CIO’s Executive Council in Washington.
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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.
