Israeli Port workers strike as government plans reform : Unions debate.

[Az]

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/347784.html

Dockworkers protest as MKs begin debate on port privatization

By Haim Bior and Zvi Zrahiya, Haaretz Correspondents, and Haaretz Service



The Knesset has begun debating a proposal to
privatize the port system Thursday, in the midst
of a port workers' strike that began 10 days ago.




Meanwhile, the Histadrut has
threatened to increase the
severity of the strikes after
the Sukkot holiday, and port
workers continued their
demonstrations Thursday.

The National Religious Party
decided Thursday to abstain
from voting on the first
reading of the government

proposal to privatize the ports.

The decision came following a suggestion from
NRP members that the party leave the coalition
over a dispute with Shinui regarding the
rabbinic courts. Labor Party Chairman Shimon
Peres told Army Radio on Thursday that his
party was not planning on filling any hole in
the coalition, but was working on building up
the opposition.

Ashdod port workers burned tires at the port's
Zim Junction, and their colleagues in Haifa
also demonstrated on Thursday, in protest over
plans to privatize ports and as part of the
ongoing dockworkers strike, entering its tenth
day.


The Knesset is scheduled to vote Thursday at a
special recess meeting on the first reading of
a government-backed bill aimed at turning
Israel's three seaports into independent
government corporations.


According to the proposed legislation, the
government would be entitled to close down any
of the ports - Haifa, Ashdod and Eilat - or add
others to the list of approved ports. In
addition, it is being proposed that the
Transportation Ministry establish a Shipping
and Ports Authority to oversee the entire
sector.

On Wednesday, Histadrut labor federation
Chairman Amir Peretz sent a letter to Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon urging him to intervene
personally in the seaport labor crisis and to
prevent a further deterioration in contacts
between laborers and the Finance Ministry.

Peretz warned Wednesday that if the labor
dispute is not settled as soon as possible he
will increase labor sanctions. "This is going
to be a tough struggle. It will escalate to
levels we have never before seen in Israel,"
Peretz said.

At a Wednesday press conference, he said that
the Histadrut is not prepared to give up on
agreements that have already been signed with
the government. Peretz said the strike will end
only if the government declares it is prepared
to honor agreements made with employees some
two years ago.

Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also stepped
up the government's campaign against striking
longshoremen Wednesday, saying the strike was
"strangling" Israel's economy and that Israeli
citizens pay more money for every product
because "there are more strikes here than
anywhere else in the world."

He cited figures showing that the 25 senior port
employees received a total of NIS 20 million in
annual wages.

Peretz fired back, telling a news conference in
remarks quoted by Army Radio, "We have a
finance minister who thinks that he's God."

Since the public-sector strike began on
September 29, with the ports joining in a day
later, there has been only one meeting between
Histadrut and government representatives, which
ended without results. On Tuesday, the
Histadrut rejected another Finance Ministry
plea to conduct negotiations on the various
reform proposals that are the pretext for the
strike. In addition to the plan to introduce
competition to the ports, these include
combining a number of government agencies -
something that the Histadrut fears will cost
jobs.

Netanyahu on Wednesday reiterated that he would
put aside the proposed legislation if the port
workers supended their strike and labor
sanctions.

Ok, Haaretz there with the misleading Headline: the govt. plan is to Incorporate each port authority into a government fully owned corporation. ( boldened ).

The government is losing a couple hundred million dollars or so each year in these harbours. So it is planning to incorporate them, and let them compete, to supposedly increase efficiency, etc.

I'd like to point out that the Port workers do get very high wages, and I applaud it, but it seems that there are lots of people who're hired in vain, and incorporating them will bring needed efficiency. The workers protest, because they'll be pressured more. They've cancelled all freight coming in and out of the country. This has already left thousands of people unemployed.

Israel's Trade Union ( an uberpowerful trade union that protects the interests of the vast majority of Israel's government and public sector, as well as many large factories ) has published a paper comparing the price charged by ports for handling cargo in Israel in comparison with Europe's ports, stating that in Israel, the price is only 20%-33%. IF the paper is correct, it seems that the government could simply increase the handling fees charged by ports.

Also, the union claims that this all has to do with private interests, that the Finance minister, pushing this move forward, is actually supporting private interest, and the government will later subsidize the establishment of private ports, which will funnel the public's cash into the hands of the leading capitalists in the country.

As seen in previous cases of government restructuring, esp. the Privatization of Israel's national cargo carrier, ZIM, this has a lot to do with very strong individuals, in this case, the Ofer brothers. I am personally aware of the corruption behind this privatization, but I cannot talk about it more. Seriously. These folks are the second richest people in Israel, and weild lots of power. Just a couple of months ago, they also "convinced" government officials to buy their stake at the Israeli Oil Refineries, for an extravagant sum of money...

So, here's the question:

Who's on the right, here? The workers, or the government?

[Wraith]

The government, in this case. I was in Tel Aviv for a couple weeks recently, so I got to learn about the politics and so on here. From what I read, the labor union has a lot of other avenues of recourse (labor court, IIRC, was one that was mentioned frequently).
Striking is a last-resort thing, but they're jumping right in. This hurts a lot of people that have nothing to do with their complaint, and no power to do anything about it anyway. These guys are essentially throwing a nation-wide hissy fit (as one of the customs officials admitted).

The rest of the world that does business with Israel truly does not appreciate this ****. Especially since these guys seem to be doing it rather often. We've only been doing with an Israeli company for less than a year and there's already been a couple major impacts on our schedules from these strikes there.

Wraith
"Anything can be done with the right amount of smoke and mirrors."
-- Emily Weems

[Az]

On the surface, YES, I very much agree. However, I've got a distinct feeling, (and previous knowledge to back it up), that there is more to it, than meets the eye. I think there is lots of pork heading somewhere.

[Az]

Another intriguing event. Lots of Industry workers have shown up with the support ( or is it "support"? ) of the employers, making a mass demonstration against the harbor workers' strike.

[DanS]

Why would the union have any say over the ownership structure of the ports?

[Az]

Erm, I honestly don't know. I guess it changes the way the conditions the workers recieve in their working place.

[DanS]

How?

[Az]

According to the proposed legislation, the
government would be entitled to close down any
of the ports - Haifa, Ashdod and Eilat - or add
others to the list of approved ports. In
addition, it is being proposed that the
Transportation Ministry establish a Shipping
and Ports Authority to oversee the entire
sector.

As you see the government will be able to close the ports. And replace them with private ones that will be built with government subsidies, as well. On the whole, it seems like a pork shipment, and this is the part I agree with the union the most.

[DanS]

I still don't get it. The government could close the ports now, if it wished.

[CerberusIV]

40 years ago the Liverpool docks (in the UK) were a union closed shop employing thousands of people. They went on strike when they felt like it. If they didn't want to handle a cargo they didn't and it simply sat in the ship or the warehouse. If they were unloading a cargo of something desirable, say tinned fruit, it was certain that a crate would be "dropped" and the contents "lost in transit". Eventually the costs of using the port were cripplingly high. There was also a refusal to deal with new machinery to handle containers. A new container port was built down the river. The amount of cargo through the old docks dried up, because it was cheaper and easier to go elsewhere, and the docks board was wound up and 90% of the dock workers made redundant.

I'm not saying this is quite the same but there seems to be a passing resemblance.

[Az]

Originally posted by DanS
I still don't get it. The government could close the ports now, if it wished.

No it couldn't.


Cerberus: No, this ain't the case. The dock workers do their job very well, and very honestly. My mother works for the shipping Industry, I know that for a fact.

[DanS]

No it couldn't.

Why not?

[Az]

Breach of contract with the union.

[DanS]

How long is the contract? That promise was made 2 years ago.

[Az]

I don't know. In any case, this is a government bill passing through the legislature right now, that would make such an agreement void, IIUC.