The capital was hit by a new wave of strikes in the past 24 hours. Telephone and postal service was suspended this morning as hundreds of workers walked off their jobs to demonstrate for wage demands. Radio broadcasting was suspended for three hours yesterday as technicians quit to demand shorter working hours. A spokesman for the Communications Ministry said last night that the demands of postal and telephone workers were part of an overall wage question that could be settled only within the framework of countrywide wage agreements.
Finance Minister Pinhas Sapir offered on Monday to abolish the 8.5 percent compulsory defense loan and the 6 percent compulsory savings loan if Israeli workers agreed to make no new wage demands during 1972 except for the cost of living allowance which is estimated at about 8 percent.
The broadcast technicians here are demanding that their working hours be reduced from 47 to 28 hours a week, the same as for journalists. A spokesman for the Broadcasting Authority noted that the journalists’ 28 hour week did not include required reading and other preparatory work done at home to keep abreast with news developments. Sapir’s offer was described in economic circles yesterday as a trial balloon.
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