Dockworkers in the Port of Haifa have announced they are walking off the job, launching an immediate strike. The sudden strike was announced on Monday 12 Tishrei following a stormy meeting of union officials and members. They feel ongoing negotiations regarding their financial futures between the union and the state are not making progress. They fear that for as long as the government moves ahead with building new ports, the future of the existing ports looks bleak.

Not too long after walking off the job a line of trucks was visible at the dock as longshoremen stopped unpacking and packing shipments. Officials report that the strike comes at an awful time since there is a great deal of merchandise being moved during ahead of yomtov. Hit the hardest at the refrigerated containers arriving ahead of yomtov and the agricultural produce that should head to European destinations but is now stuck in port.

The strikers accuse Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz “of trying to obliterate the union and the existing ports” strike officials explain. Senior union official Meir Turgeman explains talks have been ongoing for six months “and they tell us to prepare for layoffs. They do not agree with us on anything and will not promise workers any job security. Instead of security they speak of firings and privatizing ports. The workers feel they have been sold out and we are left broken”.

Turgeman feels the nation is seeking to build private ports to bypass the existing system and the rights of the workers who have been dedicated for the past decades. He warns that the jobs of 2,200 Haifa Port employees hang in the balance.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)