Understandings were reached on Wednesday morning, March 13, 2019, to temporarily and the work sanctions leading to a cessation in service by Israel Railways. However, the workers union does not appear to agree with the announcement by Histadrut national labor federation officials, and many train operators called in sick after the understandings were reached and announced.

On Tuesday evening at 6 PM, after two difficult days of halted and interrupted services, an understanding was reached on Wednesday morning, “with the understanding and welfare of commuters in mind” negotiators told the media, as 80 trains were canceled as a result of the strike action.

Despite the “sick out” by train operators, management is trying to resume regular schedule on the lines, calling up on-call personnel to fill in the gaps. Officials in the national labor federation released a message to the media in which they said an understanding had indeed been reached as the Histadrut complied with requests for management to resume train service as negotiations continue. Histadrut officials announced that train service will resume on a normal schedule nationwide, calling on all workers to return to their post, ended plans to turn to the labor court within 24 hours in the hope of resolving the lingering dispute.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)