The Ministry of Labor is now preparing a bill requiring that all labor disputes be submitted to mediation ten days prior to the calling of a work stoppage, it was learned here today.
Recent strikes were settled quickly wherever employers felt sure of being able to pass pay rises on to consumers. But now the extreme left groups threaten to organize strikes against large-scale dismissals resulting from the government’s new economic policy.
So far, serious problems have arisen mostly in the sector of public employment. At least 25 percent of all wage earners in the country are employed by central and local government institutions, by the Jewish Agency and a number of different enterprises owned, either wholly or in part, by the Histadrut.
The government’s chronic lack of funds is considered the basic factor behind periodic demonstrations by public works laborers and strikes, mainly of teachers, in protest against delays in paying wages. White collar workers also complain of heavy income taxes. Single persons or childless couples pay as much as 40 percent and more of each pound over a monthly salary of 100 pounds.
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