... and they terminated the lockdown this morning, after being given a positive message from someone on the Transportation Minister's staff. That was short. I'm not there, yet. Wonder if I should bother calling them up to see what's up?
Dockworker's action in Eilat, Israel
sorry tree just seen this now.
Was this a wildcat strike?
cheers for the info. in future if you hear of a wildcat please post to news, even if you don't have much info. we can follow it up in more detail later. i put up an israel ports wildcat story a while ago here:
http://libcom.org/news/article.php/israel-ashdod-port-strike-090306
I kinda lost interest in that strike a day later, when, like I said, they stopped it in response to vague assurances from the Minister of Transportation. 
What do you mean by "wildcat"? As in unlawful? And, anyway, how do you get updated on all of those wildcat strikes in Israel that I only rarely hear about? 
IIRC, the strike was organized by the union. Can't get a link in English, though.
That's weird, turns out that as of this Tuesday the strike was ongoing, but since there's about a ship a day going through the port, no-one was taking them seriously. On Tuesday, though, the Ashdod and Haifa dockworkers threatened that they will be joining Eilat's strike.
I really don't know where I can get good updates on this. There's no serious labor daily around these parts, online or offline. Maybe I should start checking out the finance sections on a daily basis.
Oh, also, a strike of all students is now in full steam (which is very little steam, even compared to the 1998 strike, but still); the university teachers have gone on pseudo-strike (i.e. they strike as there's already a student strike in effect) but have called it off after receiving some vague promises from the minister of education regarding the possible conclusions of the Shohat commission (which is is considering a reform scheme for the higher education system in Israel).
Dockworkers in Eilat locked the port down, taking over a shipping vessel in the process. The lockdown is in response to the Zim shipping company's plan to alter their route from South Africa to end at Ashdod or some port in Djibouti. It is said that the action also has to do with the intent to accelerate the privatization process of the port.
I happen to be flying over to Eilat tomorrow, to celebrate my brother's birthday. I suppose I'll want to have a look at the situation first-hand, assuming that the lockdown will continue. If I do, I'll publish a thorough report in the News section.