Bnei Brak sanitation workers resumed their normal work
schedule on Monday following an interim agreement the
respective representatives of the municipality and the
employees reached during a hearing Monday morning at the Tel
Aviv District Labor Court.
MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni raised an urgent motion Monday to demand
the Interior Ministry assist the City of Bnei Brak to
alleviate the residents' suffering.
At the beginning of the hearing the municipality's
representative, Attorney Shachar Ben Ami, presented an up-to-
date picture of the trash — estimated at several
thousand tons — piling up in the streets, saying the
municipality was making concerted efforts to raise the funds
needed to pay the June salaries.
He submitted to the judge a letter by Dr. T. Shochat, the
district physician at the Health Ministry in Tel Aviv, saying
the strike poses a health hazard and refuse should be cleared
immediately to prevent an outbreak of infectious diseases.
Atty. Ben Ami also submitted a letter by Dr. Mordechai
Landersman, an expert on pediatric medicine, warning that
under the present hot and humid weather conditions the
accumulated trash could cause an outbreak of disease.
Attorney Bartal, representing the Histadrut and the workers,
said the strike in the City of Bnei Brak would not be
effective without the issue of sanitation. He said the
workers are removing trash in spots of large accumulation and
risk as per last Thursday's hearing. As a goodwill gesture,
he said, the workers' council decided that on Monday, Tuesday
and Wednesday the sanitation workers would return to their
jobs to clean up the city. The Histadrut representative
demanded another hearing on Thursday morning at which the
Mayor and the Director General of the Interior Ministry or a
proxy appear in court and if the wages are not paid by
Wednesday the workers' council would be authorized to renew
organizational steps, including the issue of sanitation. The
judge agreed to schedule a hearing for Thursday at 11:00
am
With the municipal workers' strike well into its second week,
the heaps of garbage in Bnei Brak had been piling higher,
sending forth a powerful stench and disrupting the lives of
local residents.
On Erev Shabbos, Sanitation Department workers cleared some
of the garbage piled in the main streets, but large mounds
remained throughout the city.
Following a decision by the Bnei Brak City Council last week,
the Mayor's Advisory Committee held a meeting attended by the
Mayor, the Deputy Mayor, the Administrative Staff Chairman,
the Municipal Treasurer, the Legal Advisor and the other
committee members. Mayor Rabbi Yissochor Frankentahl opened
the meeting with a brief survey of the negotiations between
the City and the Histadrut committees, outlining the points
of dispute between the two sides. The Mayor and the Treasurer
reported that in the coming days the Finance Ministry will
advance the municipality NIS 7 million from the funds
earmarked for the recovery program.
During the meeting Deputy Mayor Rabbi Yaakov Asher said that
since the city is facing such a difficult economic state,
taking steps toward recovery is unavoidable, but a general
agreement must be reached with the Histadrut committees.
"Unless agreements acceptable to all sides are reached we
will be witness to repeated strikes every few months under a
different pretext each time."
In conclusion a proposal was raised for the Mayor's Advisory
Committee to convene a meeting with the Histadrut's Ramat Gan
and Bnei Brak District Chairman, Mr. Avi Glili, to try to
formulate agreements that will bring labor peace for an
extended period of time and for the continuation of the
recovery program, which will receive the agreement of the
Histadrut, and not by taking unilateral steps.
