Foreign Ministry strike enters third day

Finance Ministry claims Foreign Ministry employees are well paid and have no reason to strike • Finance Ministry: Many make more than 20,000 shekels ($5,700) per month, double the Israeli average • Workers: Finance Ministry's data is false.

Shlomo Cesana and Nitzi Yaakov

Protestors outside the Foreign Ministry on Monday | Photo credit: AFP

<< 1 2 >>

As the Foreign Ministry strike entered its third day on Tuesday, striking employees directed citizens in need to phone Finance Ministry Wage Director Kobi Amsalem.

The Finance Ministry has said that the salary increases being demanded by Foreign Ministry workers amount to some 140 million shekels ($40 million).

Foreign Ministry employees, who are asking for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's intervention, have received the cold shoulder from Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. Lieberman released a statement at the beginning of the week condemning the strike.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Lieberman said the strike "crossed several red lines and caused damage to Foreign Ministry workers."

He said the strike was hurting Israeli travelers abroad whose passports had been lost or stolen, and was "damaging our good name."

"I am the foreign minister, and I have accomplished more than past ministers," Lieberman said. "I was with the workers as long as they conducted themselves legally. But now I have turned to a mediating judge."

Meanwhile, Foreign Ministry employees continued to protest in Jerusalem.

Kobi Bar-Natan, Amsalem's deputy, called on the workers to return to the negotiating table. He said the average salary of ministry employees working inside Israel was 21,000 ($6,000) shekels per month, more than double the average Israeli salary.

Finance Ministry data shows that 42 percent of Foreign Ministry workers earn more than 20,000 ($5,700) shekels per month, 23% earn more than 25,000 ($7,200) shekels per month and 1% earn more than 40,000 ($11,500) shekels per month.

However, Foreign Ministry Workers' Committee Chairman Yair Fromer said: "Finance Ministry employees are presenting false data that do not represent reality. In the first five years in the Foreign Ministry, a new diplomat makes 5,500 shekels [$1,580] per month, before taxes. After a decade, their salary increases to 9,500 shekels [$2,733], before taxes. The families of Foreign Ministry employees live off of this salary alone after their spouses lose their careers."

The Foreign Ministry Workers' Committee has received support from the Histadrut's Professional Unions Department head Avi Nissenkorn, who said: "Instead of bad-mouthing the people in the foreign service, the Finance Ministry should take responsibility and come to immediate agreements with the workers according to what is needed."

On Monday, Israeli missions abroad were closed and some 2,500 urgent requests from the public were directed to a committee for exceptional cases. Only a few requests were approved, with the criterion for approval being a danger to life.

Elad Levy, 28, is traveling in India had planned to meet his friends on the beaches of Ko Pha Ngan in Thailand, but the Foreign Ministry strike interfered with his vacation plans.

"My girlfriend's passport was stolen, and now we are essentially hostages here," said Levy, who is stuck in New Delhi with his girlfriend. "We planned to meet friends in Thailand and now we have no way out of here because the embassy is on strike."

Roi, 24, an Israeli traveling in Chile is experiencing similar frustration.

"They stole my passport, and my sister had a baby in Israel yesterday," he said. "There is no chance I will be able to leave the country in the coming days. Let's hope I will be able to make it to the brit milah. I am stuck here now. My money is running out, and I will not have many options left. It's not as if I have nothing on my mind and extra money and I can start trekking now. It's lucky there are other Israelis and a Chabad house here."

Roi has been in Chile for three months and says he has "done everything. Now I am dying to fly home to Israel -- and because of the strike, I can't. The Israelis here are angry and impatient. This strike, justified as it may be, should not come at our expense."

Meanwhile, due to the strike, Netanyahu put off for now a planned official visit to Latin America and Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon canceled a visit to Italy. The Foreign Ministry expects that Pope Francis' visit to Israel, planned for May, will also be affected.