We sometimes tend to think of the Israeli left as analogous to the American left. It’s really not. Israel’s socialist hangover continues to create situations that seem nothing short of absurd to those of us with a more capitalist bent. The Israeli economy is in the toilet, the country is threatened hourly by suicidal mass murderers, but the unions are oblivious. And with this sort of power, why not? . . . Starting Sunday morning all municipal offices will be closed, mail will not be delivered, no welfare services will be administered, school maintenance and administration workers and nursery school assistants will not work, and many school busses will not run. Tickets for parking violations will not be issued and emergency services such as fire fighters will operate skeleton crews. Due to the ongoing strike in cabinet ministries, it is impossible to get a new passport, extend the validity of existing ones or obtain any official document such as an identity card, birth or death certificate. In addition, income tax, Israel Lands Administration, employment bureau, National Insurance and car licensing officers will be closed. The Treasury and civil servants representatives will make an effort Sunday to formulate a collective agreement, which will enable the public sector to end the strike. The local authority workers, who have been imposing minimal sanctions in the past few weeks, decided to expand them to a full fledged strike following the Treasury and local authorities' refusal to respond to their demands. The workers are demanding the repeal of a new tax on employer contributions to their pension plans, or alternatively, a wage increase to compensate for the new tax. They are also demanding to reduce the number of workers on personal contracts and hired via personnel agencies. Some 100,000 municipal and religious council workers launched a strike Saturday evening, the second within a month. Sanitation workers will stop collecting garbage at midnight Saturday. In addition, the 40,000 civil service workers striking for the past month are continuing their sanctions.
