Israel

The strike quickly ended as the Histadrut labor federation intervened and called to renew negotiations between workers and management officials.

The news that president Bush vetoed Israeli plans to attack Iranian nuclear facilities whilst visiting the country in May should, with some luck, permanently put to bed the belief shared by conservatives, liberals and leftists alike in the “Israel Lobby”, and its grip on US interests.

This employee was the first of some 15 expected to be forced into early retirement this year at the Dimona station as part of an agreement between Histadrut and Israel Rail. The employees stopped work as soon as they heard of their comrade's dismissal.

Management responded by threatening to close down trade entirely if disruptions continue today (Tuesday April 1st). Workers retaliated by diverting all incoming calls to the CEO's office.

Normally, passengers wishing to enter baggage in excess of a certain weight must make additional payments. Disgruntled workers bypassed this procedure by distributing the baggage among various passengers evenly, so that none of them had excess weight.

The ban took effect on Sunday (March 9th), and has been maintained on Monday (March 10th) as well. This step is a direct response to current conditions, which preclude overtime pay from counting into workers` pension plans.

These include increasing wages by 4.5% and adding workers hired through HR firms to the group pay agreement. Instead, management is only willing to increase wages to its direct employees, with a 0.5% blanket increase as well as an additional 3% to be rewarded selectively according to individual performance.

Workers at Eilat-based Arkia Airlines have been staging the work-to-rule as part of an on-going dispute with management. A number of flights have had to be cancelled recently owing to "technical difficulties".

In reality, airline staff have decided amongst themselves to make things as difficult as possible for the company to operate smoothly until demands over pay and conditions are met.

"Our historical analogy aimed to demonstrate the failure of the present course of action for the region’s proletariat and suggest an alternative. It is the social and not the military dimension of the struggle that has the potential to transcend capital."

The strike declared Tuesday night closed most government offices and the postal service while workers related to defense and emergency healthcare remained on the job, The Jerusalem Post reported.

Government negotiations with the Histadrut labor federation were to continue Wednesday in hope of ending the strike by day's end, The Post reported.