Posted on 11/24/2003 2:14:36 PM PST by anotherview
Last Update: 24/11/2003 22:53
Netanyahu, Peretz to hold decisive marathon talks
By Zohar Blumenkrantz , Zvi Zrahiya and Haim Bior, Haaretz Correspondents, and Haaretz Service
Passengers waiting at the Ben-Gurion International Airport on Sunday, as takeoffs were halted due to a strike. (Nir Kafri)
Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded positively on Monday evening to a proposal by Histadrut labor federation leader Amir Peretz to meet on Wednesday and Thursday in the framework of decisive marathon talks aimed at ending 56 days of public sector sanctions.
The talks, which will be held in an isolated location, will debate the still unresolved issues between the Histadrut and the treasury.
Professional figures from the two sides, including State Civil Service Commissioner Shmuel Hollander, director-general of the treasury's wages department, Yuval Rachlevsky, and Trade Union Department in the Histadrut Labor Federation, Shlomo Shani, will participate in the talks.
"The talks are meant to bring some quiet to the economy and to create responsible growth stimuli, while taking into consideration the public's needs," Peretz said Monday evening.
The Monday meeting between Netanyahu and Peretz was described by the latter as "to the point and even positive."
Treasury sources explained that the meeting was eventually halted because Netanyahu had to leave for a Likud Party conference.
The Peretz-Netanyahu meeting was held after talks between civil servants union head Ofer Eini and Civil Service Commissioner Shmuel Hollander broke down on Sunday.
Both sides blames each other for the current deadlock. Netanyahu said during the meeting that he is interested in advancing the negotiations with the Histadrut and expressed his amazement that an agreement had not yet been reached.
The finance minister suggested that he and Peretz join the talks between held between Eini and Hollander and that the four of them attempt to solve the crisis in the coming two days.
The meeting came against the backdrop of harsh criticism directed at a treasury proposal to draft legislation that would ban strikes in the public sector unless a majority of a union's members approve the labor action by secret ballot.
The proposal was included in a position paper drafted by treasury officials Sunday that will soon be sent on to Netanyahu for consideration. Currently, strikes can be called by union executives without any need to consult their memberships.
Peretz slammed the treasury's proposed law to limit the right to strike.
"The finance minister is taking steps to destroy democracy. His obsession to reach the prime minister's office, his frustration with the fact that he is not one of the five ministers making security-related decisions, and his desire to make use of incitement and belligerence - as he has his entire life in every position he has served - are leading him to employ measures that are destroying democracy in Israel."
Opposition leader Shimon Peres on Monday responded to the proposal by saying the Labor Party would oppose the 'draconian steps' suggested by the Finance Ministry, which he said were an attempt to dismantle Israeli democracy.
The Finance Ministry was to blame for the strikes, Peres added, because it treated the Histadrut as an enemy, attacking it rather than engaging in talks.
Chairman of the clerical workers' association, Leon Morozovski, said Netanyahu was hysterical. "There is no doubt that one of the Finance Minister's goals is to neutralize the workers' ability to defend themselves. One of the goals of the draft bill is to turn workers into medieval-times slaves."
Minister at the Finance Ministry Meir Sheetrit on Monday said that the draft proposal was being reviewed, and the decision has not yet been taken to begin legislation procedures.
The treasury believes that such a bill is necessary to deal with the increasingly severe problem of public-sector strikes.
Tel Aviv city employees begin work sanctions Tel Aviv municipal employees began unlimited work sanctions on Monday, in protest over the treasury's proposed plan to limit the right to strike.
City sanitation employees were not collecting garbage from the street. Starting on Tuesday, city employees will not handle problems forwarded by Tel Aviv residents. From the afternoon hours, inspectors will cease issuing tickets for parking violations.
"This is legislation that is set to break the Histadrut and organized labor and we are thus unable to support it," said Arnon Ben-David, chairman of the municipality's workers' committee.
Government offices and related offices continued their sanctions on Tuesday, as well as many hospitals around the country.
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