"מי שמחזיק במניות בגוף תקשורת חייב לדעת שהוא מחזיק במשאב ציבורי"

With Moti Bassok

There will be no more delays in implementing the treasury's economic program, declared Meir Sheetrit, the second minister at the Finance Ministry, Monday morning. The plan will be brought before the Knesset for voting on Wednesday.

In an interview to Israel Radio, Sheetrit said that there is no logic behind the intention of the Histadrut labor federation to launch a general strike on Wednesday in protest over the plan.

Histradrut chairman Amir Perez ordered a halt Sunday evening in the negotiations with the Finance Ministry over the government's emergency economic plan.

The Histadrut is now preparing for a general strike of all public sector employees set to begin Wednesday.

Perez argued that the negotiations, which were being held by five sets of negotiating teams, were halted because the ministerial committee for legislative matters convened Sunday evening to prepare the economic plan for its first reading in the Knesset plenum, also expected Wednesday.

Last week's negotiations between the Finance Ministry and the Histadrut over the economic austerity plan also failed to advance. In fact, Histadrut trade unions division chief Shlomo Shani commented Thursday that the talks had actually "moved backward."

Shani also announced Thursday that the Histadrut's action team, made up of dozens of unions, will meet Monday to prepare for a possible general strike Wednesday. Should the strike go ahead, it will include ministries, local authorities, state-run firms and some large private-sector factories.

Head of the treasury's wages and labor relations division Yuval Rachlevsky commented Thursday that "we will decide over the coming week whether the economic program will be brought before the Knesset for approval in its entirety or in part."

The Histadrut is interpreting this as a hint that some "sensitive" parts of the plan, including the dismissal of thousands of public sector workers and an 8% wage cut for those who remain, will be removed at the last minute, just before the program is presented to the Knesset. Should this indeed happen, the Histadrut will have no reason to call a general strike.

Rachlevsky also accused the Histadrut of dragging out the talks, which "raises suspicions that their true interests are blocking an agreement over the economic program."