Representatives of the country’s 13 largest workers committees met yesterday to discuss the government’s agreement to Agudat Israel’s demands for halting all work on the Sabbath but decided to postpone a decision on what action to take until later this month. Some delegations demanded immediate strike action to avoid being presented by a government fait accompli ordering El Al and all other enterprises to cease all Sabbath work.
Spokesmen for the workers committees said they were opposed to such an order on both principle and economic grounds. Many workers earn a large part of their income from special overtime payment for work on the Sabbath and on holidays. The Histadrut central committee also discussed the issue and decided to present the Cabinet with a detailed analysis of the negative effects of a Sabbath work ban.
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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.