A strike by Population and Immigration Authority workers that was planned to start Sunday morning at Ben-Gurion International Airport was canceled Friday afternoon.
The report came after the workers threatened to strike at the airport and the Allenby Crossing. It was canceled after agreements were made between authority representatives and the Finance Ministry.
The strike was originally set to take place between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. With its cancellation, the Allenby, Begin, and Rabin border crossings will continue to operate normally.
Some 50,000 travelers are reportedly set to pass through Ben-Gurion at the beginning of the week, according to Channel 13.
Transportation Minister Miri Regev congratulated Interior Minister Moshe Arbel for his “handling of the crisis and for leading the talks together with the Finance Ministry that led to the strike’s cancellation,” Maariv quoted her as saying. “This is an important step that prevented serious harm to passengers, both Israeli and foreign airlines, and the Israeli economy.”
"Due to the low wages of authority employees, there is a severe shortage of manpower. Additionally, the new salary system further harms the already low wages, leading many employees to resign," the authority was cited as saying by Channel 13.
"Not only that, but authority employees also lack protective measures.
"As a result, authority employees who refuse entry to suspicious individuals may be harmed by those they deny entry to."
Talks are currently underway between the ministry and the Population Authority to find a solution to the issue, KAN reported. According to the union's threats, neither Israeli nor foreign citizens would have been able to leave the country at all had the strike went on as planned, the report added.
Before the strike's cancelation, the Israel Airports Authority warned of possible danger to dozens of Muslim citizens who are planning to leave the country for Jordan via the Allenby Bridge, as well as to other Israelis travelling to the Sinai Peninsula, who would not have been able to return to Israel on Sunday, the KAN report also added.
Interior Ministry vs. Transportation Ministry
Regev had initially reached out to Arbel, who is responsible for the inspectors, demanding his immediate intervention to prevent the strike. “We worked very hard to bring back foreign airlines. You are causing irreversible damage,” she said.
“I will not allow an act of extortion that seeks to harm hundreds of thousands of citizens and travelers,” Regev said. If this is not prevented, I will immediately advance a temporary order to transfer border crossing management to the Airports Authority, and later, I will promote legislation to transfer full responsibility to the authority. Border inspectors will no longer be under the Interior Ministry – all inspectors will belong to the Airports Authority.”
She concluded by emphasizing that “the days when power groups tried to take over border crossings through wild strikes are over. I am committed to ensuring the continuity of Israel’s aviation and transportation – we will not allow harm to citizens in the name of internal power struggles.”