El Al, long plagued by strikes and work slowdowns, cracked down today on maintenance workers who walked off the job last night demanding a shorter work week. The airline announced that it would suspend any employee who did not report for duty and threatened to furlough all of its workers without pay, subject to government approval.
The outgoing Labor government indicated it would approve the airline’s action and as a result, all flights departed from Ben Gurion Airport on schedule this morning, except for one that was cancelled. The trouble began last night when only skeleton maintenance crews showed up forcing cancellation of the Saturday evening flights. About 1000 El Al passengers had to be transferred to other carriers.
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.
