Rhetoric soars as strike grinds on

By Moti Bassok, Haim Bior and Ruth Sinai

Leaders of the opposing camps in the ongoing public
sector and port strike turned up the rhetoric
yesterday, as the Knesset prepared for today’s
special recess meeting, where lawmakers will be
asked to approve the first reading of a
government-backed bill aimed at turning Israel’s
three seaports into independent government
corporations.

According to the proposed
legislation, the government
would be entitled to close down
any of the ports - Haifa,
Ashdod and Eilat - or to add
others to the list of approved
ports. In addition, it is being
proposed that the
Transportation Ministry
establish a Shipping and Ports

Authority to oversee the entire sector.

Addressing a press conference in Tel Aviv,
Histadrut labor federation chairman, MK Amir
Peretz (One Nation), said that, "[Finance
Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, who thinks he is
God, has taken it upon himself to decide who
lives and who dies, who gets cancer treatment
drugs and who does not, who will be able to
become pregnant and who will not."

Peretz’s attacks came against the backdrop of a
total breakdown in negotiations between the
Histadrut and the government over the port
strike and the industrial action being taken by
public sector employees.

"The Finance Minister is nurturing a culture of
destruction - against the poor, the unemployed,
single mothers, doctors, members of the
standing army and public sector workers,"
Peretz said. "Netanyahu is about to embark on
one of the most irresponsible moves in the past
few decades, and he is willing to sacrifice the
Israeli economy on his way back to the prime
minister’s seat."

Peretz claimed that the Ports Authority had
recently presented the Histadrut with a plan
detailing how the three ports would be
transformed into subsidiaries of the Ports
Authority, in accordance with an agreement from
2001 between the Histadrut, the treasury and
the Transportation Ministry.

"Making the ports subsidiaries of the Ports
Authority would have achieved the aim of
creating competition between each of the three
ports," claimed Peretz. "Instead, Netanyahu
decided he wants to break the two-year-old
agreement and turn the ports into government
corporations, so that further down the line, he
can sell them off and transfer more national
resources into private hands."

The salvos of charges continued through the day
yesterday, with Netanyahu turning to a
nationwide radio audience to say, "Every
citizen of Israel listening to me now is paying
more money for every product, whether it’s
imported through the ports, or its raw
materials are imported, because ... there are
more strikes here than anywhere else in the
world, sky-high wages, and port employers who
come to work in a Jaguar."

Netanyahu, citing figures showing that the 25
senior port employees received a total of NIS
20 million in annual wages, said, "And still
they come and strangle our economy." He said
the government would use every means at its
disposal to reopen the ports, but refrained
from commenting on industrialists’ calls to
send troops to the harbors.

Asked about strikers’ threats to "set the
streets afire" if the government enacts
legislation to bypass the strike, Netanyahu
said, "Get out of your Jaguar and go to work,
and stop this thuggery and these threats of
violence." Peretz called on his fellow Knesset
members to vote against the proposed
legislation that would lead to the
privatization of the ports. "Voting for this
bill would be tantamount to encouraging the
government to break agreements and to employ
strong-arm tactics," said Peretz. He added that
if the legislation became law, "the Histadrut
will take additional measures, above and beyond
the ports strike and public sector sanctions."

Peretz also called on Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon to intervene in crisis, adding that he
was disappointed that Sharon had not yet done
so. "There seems to be a division between the
prime minister responsible for security issues
and another prime minister, who is in charge of
economic matters. The government invests more
thought in its battle against the workers than
in fighting Israel’s enemies," Peretz charged.

Treasury officials repeated yesterday their call
on the Histadrut and members of the port
workers’ union to renew negotiations
immediately. According to the treasury,
Netanyahu is prepared to suspend legislation of
the privatization laws - due to start tomorrow
– if the strike is brought to an end.

Port strike costs NIS 2 billion

According to figures released yesterday by the
Manufacturers’ Association and the Federation
of Israeli Chambers of Commerce, the port
strike has cost the private sector NIS 2
billion so far. The figures also show that
goods worth NIS 5.5 billion are being held up
at the ports and at factories unable to export
them.

The Manufacturers’ Association will hold a
demonstration today outside Haifa port, during
the course of which anti-strike protesters will
try to free raw materials destined for
factories that the strike has left stranded
inside the port. Striking port workers,
meanwhile, will hold a protest outside the
Knesset, in an attempt to persuade lawmakers
not to support the privatization bill.

Ahead of this morning’s Knesset session, Peretz
will convene a meeting of the Histadrut
leadership. Dozens of ports employees have been
invited to the Knesset, including some party
activists who will try to persuade their
Knesset colleagues to vote against the proposed
legislation. Sources in the Knesset said
yesterday that they are afraid of a possible
clash with port workers.

The chair of the Labor Knesset faction, MK Dalia
Itzik, met yesterday morning with leaders of
all the opposition parties to try to formulate
a joint front to counter what they describe as
"rash" legislation. Itzik also asked Knesset
Speaker Reuven Rivlin (Likud) to postpone the
emergency session, on the grounds that "there
is no reason to convene the Knesset in such an
urgent manner during recess. It is an
expression of disdain for lawmakers," she
added. "The government is merely trying to
distract the public’s attention from the more
urgent, painful issues."

The decision to convene the Knesset for a
special recess session came after a request by
Netanyahu, in the aftermath of a union decision
to launch industrial action at the ports.

Originally, the cabinet secretary had asked for
all three readings of the bill to come before
the Knesset today. In the end however, Rivlin
and coalition leader MK Gideon Sa’ar (Likud)
made a deal with Netanyahu to delay the second
and third readings for several weeks.

PM: Strike is political

Sharon opened yesterday’s cabinet meeting with
a scathing attack on striking public sector
employees, claiming that their actions were
politically motivated.

According to Sharon, the government views the
strike with utmost severity, and was doing
everything in its power to bring it to an end.
"There is no doubt that, beyond the workers’
legitimate struggle against the government’s
plan to improve efficiency and improve the
state of the economy, there are political
motives."

Responding to a sharply-worded attack by Peretz
on Netanyahu, the treasury issued a statement
accusing Peretz of "electing to launch a
vicious personal attack on Netanyahu, instead
of presenting any concrete arguments. It is
clear that if the government had violated any
previous agreement, the Histadrut would
immediately take legal action. The fact that it
has not proves that we have not reneged on any
deals. This strike is the struggle of one
strong monopoly, trying to prevent competition
at the ports, which would be to the benefit of
all Israeli citizens.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=347979&sw=workers