Less than 12 hours elapsed from the time Elad Mayor Yitzchak Eden sent a letter to city employees informing them of a 10% salary cut until a shorter second letter was sent telling them he retracts the planned salary cuts.

City employees on Tuesday 14 Cheshvan 5773 received the letter from the mayor informing them that due to difficult budgetary realities salaries were being cut 10% as per the decision by the city council. The message was given to the workers’ vaad and the head of religious services in the city, Tomer Cohen, who passed it along to his subordinates.

Needless to say the letter was not received well by employees of the religious services, who feel the mayor of late has been ignoring this aspect of the city’s service to residents. Cohen explains he turned to the Histadrut national labor federation to declare a ‘work dispute’, a move that if approved begins the 14-day countdown timer following which a strike may be declared. It is hoped that during the ‘work dispute’ period, labor and management use the time to enter into negotiations.

Simultaneously, Cohen turned to the labor court and got an injunction against City Hall’s unilateral action. He also organized a worker’s protest outside the mayor’s home. They also spoke with the city’s rabbonim, who reportedly promised to bring the matter to the attention of Maran HaGaon HaRav Ovadia Yosef Shlita.

The mayor backed down and reversed his decision, a move Cohen and others attribute to the ferocity of their response.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)