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Israeli FM slams ministry staff over general strike
http://www.ecns.cn/learning-Chinese/2014/03-26/106699.shtml
Mar 26th 2014, 08:00
2014-03-26 17:00 Xinhua
Israeli FM slams ministry staff over general strike
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman slammed the general strike his ministry's employees embarked on earlier this week, saying they are damaging the ministry and have lost the support of the Israeli public.
"The struggle has gone in the wrong direction," Lieberman said at a press conference on Tuesday, amid the employee's overall strike which commenced on Sunday.
The workers, who are protesting their employment conditions, halted the ministry's operations and shut down 103 Israeli missions worldwide.
The minister said that the workers' battle is waged at the expense of "helpless Israelis" who cannot receive the ministry's services.
"A battle over salaries cannot be conducted at the expense of the helpless. Some red lines cannot be crossed," Lieberman said, mentioning handicap elderly whose foreign caregivers are abroad and parents who have adopted babies overseas among those damaged by the shutdown of diplomatic services.
The general strike started on Sunday afternoon in Israel and across the Israeli missions abroad on Monday. The workers shut down all activities in the headquarters in Jerusalem, preventing access to top officials.
Both parties were summoned to meet on Tuesday evening for an emergency meeting in order to end the strike.
"I have ordered the management of the office to cut all ties to the workers' union. The employees may strike, but they cannot prevent other people from entering the premises," Lieberman said.
Regarding the employees' demands, he said that some of them are "absurd" and said he has done more for the employees' conditions than any other foreign minister in the past.
On the other hand, the workers insist that their salaries and overall conditions are not adequate to their jobs and criticized Lieberman for intervening a year after the crisis began.
"It's nice of him to be reminded of us after a year," an Israeli diplomat working in a mission overseas, who wished to remain anonymous, told Xinhua on Tuesday.
"Instead of showing us support he lashes out at us. Our wages are a joke. I made my way into diplomatic service in order to serve the state of Israel, and it's a difficult job. It's hard to defend Israel at this time, it's a very difficult job with many challenges and hardships and requirements and you end up feeling nobody cares about you and the hard work you do is unappreciated," he said.
The crisis started a year ago, when the workers announced a labor dispute, protesting their employment terms and the cut in their salaries. In the summer the dispute ended as the district labor court ordered a mediation process to take place between the ministry workers and the treasury.
However, the employees charged this month that the treasury offered to cut their salaries and did not hold on to its side of the bargain, proposing solutions that have been disqualified by them in the past.
The strike may have dire consequences for Israel's diplomacy, as it is suffering a low public image on the global stage. It has been under attacks by the international community amid its ongoing settlement construction in the West Bank, on lands it annexed in the 1967 Mideast War.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was forced to cancel a visit to South America in April.
以色列外长谴责以外交部大罢工
以色列外交部长利伯曼２５日对以外交部自２３日开始的大罢工予以谴责，称罢工使得外交部在国内失去了公众支持。
利伯曼在当天的新闻发布会上说："外交部员工对于工资待遇的抗争不应该以损害无助的以色列公民的利益为代价。这种抗争已走向一个错误的方向。"
近年来，以色列外交部工作人员一直要求提高工资水平、改善工作环境。以外交部工会去年曾举行部分罢工，后来接受以财政部调解而结束罢工。但财政部与外交部７个多月的谈判未取得任何结果，本月初，以外交部工会再次举行部分罢工，以色列驻各国使领馆因为罢工停止受理护照、签证等工作。２３日，以色列外交部工会宣布举行全面罢工，除以色列１０３个驻外机构停止办公外，外交部位于耶路撒冷的总部也进入无限期罢工状态。
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