Military personnel continued to man the control tower at Ben Gurion Airport today following the government-ordered takeover Friday to end a three-week work slowdown by civilian flight controllers. The latter, who were suspended, reportedly have agreed to urgings by Histadrut to resume their normal work schedules if certain conditions are met. Negotiations are in progress. Meanwhile, the control tower remains under a 24-hour police guard against possible retaliation by disgruntled workers.
The government’s action, unprecedented in Israel’s history, was welcomed by the airlines and the traveling public. The airport has been functioning smoothly and all flights have been arriving and departing on time. But the political repercussions of the move have yet to be felt. Some observers thought it was foolhardy for the care-taker Labor government, defeated in the elections less than two weeks ago, to call in the military in a labor dispute. They suggested that this could have serious consequences for Labor in the Histadrut elections next month.
Histadrut cannot endorse the use of the army against workers, even indirectly, but recognizes that the government has a right to intervene in the interests of safety and to maintain normal air communications with the rest of the world. The fact that Israel’s tourist season is well underway also prompted the government to put an end to the slowdown that was causing anger among air travelers.
PILOTS PROTEST
So far the only serious protests from workers groups have come from the Israeli Pilots Association and the Ashdod longshoremen’s union. The pilots warned Premier Yitzhak Rabin in a letter that the use of inexperienced flight controllers could be hazardous. Flight controllers on Cyprus expressed the same view in a cable to Israeli authorities, noting that the military personnel manning the control tower is not sufficiently fluent in the English language that is used in ground-to-air communications. On the other hand, it was pointed out by Israeli sources that the military flight controllers are as well trained and competent to handle air traffic as their civilian counterparts.
The Ashdod port workers who protested to Transport Minister God Yaacobi got a letter in reply stating that the introduction of military personnel should not be regarded as intervention in a labor dispute but as a measure aimed at insuring air safety.
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