The Histadrut labor federation announced Sunday that Israir’s flight attendants are unionizing for the first time and demanding the company offer them a collective contract.

Israir flight attendants turned to the Histadrut, claiming deterioration in their working conditions. The Histadrut says that it declared the labor dispute after Israir’s management refused to hold negotiations with it on a collective agreement for the airline’s flight attendants.

Israir flight attendants claim that their salaries are very low and that they are forced to sleep on planes’ floors during long flights. They also claim that the airline uses especially cheap hotels for lay-overs in dangerous areas in foreign destinations, jeopardizing them.

Edery said that unless Israir management held negotiations with the Histadrut in the next two weeks, the airline’s employees would take industrial action as permitted by law. He added, “If there’s no choice, we’ll go on strike, and stop flights.”

(Sources: Haaretz / Globes)