Slowdown Strike of Haifa Stevedores Ended; Cost $6,300,000 in Damages

The seven-week-long slowdown strike by Haifa’s 1,600 stevedores and dockworkers, which has crippled the port and has cost the ship owners an estimated $6,300,000, was ended tonight. The workers voted to return to full loading and unloading operations tomorrow morning. There is a backlog of 39 ships clogging the harbor, and clearance of the port is expected to take about 10 days.

The settlement was reached over the weekend at a meeting of leaders of the Histadrut, Israel’s federation of labor, with Transport Minister Moshe Carmel and Haifa Mayor Abba Khoushy. It was approved by two of the sections of the Haifa Labor Council yesterday and Friday, and finally passed the third section here tonight.

Under the settlement, the workers will receive a 10 percent wage increase this year, and will be entitled to an additional 5 percent rise next year. Finance Minister Pinhas Sapir, who is also Acting Prime Minister now, said that formula is in line with the Government’s official wage policy.

The settlement also provides for the establishment of a five-man committee to investigate claims still not granted to the workers. Among these are demands by some of the workers that stevedores employed for eight years be given the status of permanent workers, entitling them to certain social welfare benefits. Until now, such privileges were extended only to men working 13 years. The rulings of the committee are to be final and binding on all sides.

Representatives of Histadrut said, after the settlement, that if investigation proves that Haifa workers receive wages lower than those paid to similar workers at the port of Ashdod, the Histadrut will act to equalize the basic pay here. Mayor Khoushy said that the settlement has satisfied between 60 percent and 70 percent of the workers’ demands.