Doctors, teachers and other professionals employed by the government and public went on a 24-hour strike throughout Israel today to underline their demands for an immediate increase in salary. A Cabinet spokesman, meanwhile, announced that the government would stick by its decision not to act on the wage demands until August and that “no government” could take any other action only a week before national elections.
Skeleton staffs remained on duty in hospitals and clinics maintained by the government, the Histadrut medical network, the Hadassah-supported medical program and the medical facilities of various municipalities. These staffs will care for emergency cases only.
The doctors, who together with university teaching staffs, set off the national wage rise demands of the professionals, have been joined by lawyers, engineers, architects, dentists and veterinarians. Top administrative civil servants, however, have not joined the stoppage.
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