The machlokes between Bnei Brak employees and City Hall appears to be worsening and the Histadrut national labor federation official in the city, Ofir Yimin, warns if progress is not made in the talks effecting the lives of 1,800 employees, a general strike will be called.

In a harshly-worded letter sent to Mayor Chanoch Zeibert by Yimin, he warns a general strike will be launched on 18 Kislev. The letter was ‘cc’ed to Mr. Shlomo Yitzchaki, chief labor relations officer at the Ministry of the Economy, making him aware of the pending strike too.

Yimin alleges there has been a breakdown in the fabric of relations between City Hall and its employees and the current situation is no longer tolerable. Yimin adds talks have been deadlocked for a long time as is the case with negotiations for sanitation workers, accusing management of negotiating in bad faith.

City officials respond, stating if the strike is launched, it will be a precedent that was not seen since the tenure of Mosher Erenstein over 15 years ago. “The residents do not want to go back to the dark days of strikes in these difficult times” City Hall warns.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)