The striking members of the Engineers Union employed in public institutions, today tightened their strike for higher wages by ordering that engineers at electric power stations, who have been permitted to work until now, join the walk-out.
According to the strikers’ plans, one power station will be struck tomorrow, and another station will be struck each day thereafter, until all electric power stations in Israel are shut down.
Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, addressing the Knesset (Parliament) at Jerusalem, condemned the strikers, and warned that the Government will take “all essential steps to insure vital services. ” Histadrut, the Israel Federation of Labor, and various public and municipal bodies throughout the country that employ the engineers, also condemned the strikers and called upon them to return to work. Histadrut has promised to support all engineers who return to work against the orders of their own union.
Meanwhile, Israel’s secondary school teachers, who only yesterday won their own three-year dispute against the Government, obtaining higher salaries, voted today to call a one-day strike next Tuesday in support of the engineers. Other groups of professional workers in Israel, among them non-publicly-employed engineers and technicians, have declared themselves in support of the striking engineers.
Mr. Ben-Gurion and other leaders of the Government, as well as Histadrut, are opposing the strike on the grounds that the wage demands are excessive, and charge that the striking union violated a pledge to abide by a decision of a special committee investigating the grievances. The engineers were represented on that committee.
The Ministry of Finance has offered the engineers a seven percent wage increase. There is a split in the ranks of the union as to how much to accept in settlement. The largest faction in the union insists on a 16.5 percent increase. Another group, composed of members of the Mapai and Liberal parties, is willing to settle for a 10 percent increase.
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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.
