40 Friday, November 30, 1919
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Histadrut Calls Off General Strike Over Israel Austerity Moves
JERUSALEM (JTA) — A
general strike called for
Tuesday was canceled by
Histadrut at the urging of
the national Labor Court
here. The court did not act
on an appeal by the Man-
ufacturers Associaiton to
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declare the strike illegal,
but arranged a compromise
in the interests of "good
labor relations."
Histadrut stressed that
the strike was not aimed
against management but
was intended as a protest
against the government's
new austerity economic
program.
The court agreed that
Histadrut could reactivate
the strike plans.
The strike decision was
taken by Histadrut's
Executive Committee at a
stormy session during
which fist-fights broke
out between members of
the Labor Party and
other opposition factions
and representatives of
Likud who support the
government's economic
policies.
Police were called at one
point. A Likud-sponsored -
no-confidence motion in
Histadrut Secretary Gen-
eral Yeruham Meshel was
defeated.
Had the general strike
materialized, it might not
have been fully effective.
Several public service
workers unions said they
would not participate.
Many civil servants were
not willing to lose a day's
pay.
Meanwhile, the initial ef-
fects of the goverment's
economic measures re-
mained unclear. According
to one report, the labor
market is responding to Fi-
nance Minister Yigal Hur-
wits efforts to shift em-
ployment from services to
productive industry. But
soaring prices resulting
from the elimination of gov-
ernment subsidies for basic
commodities is making it
harder to sell goods.
These developments
seem to bear out the
warning by Avarham
Shavit, president of the
Manufacturers As-
sociaiton, that large-
scale unemployment is
imminent.
Addressing a press con-
ference, Shavit charged
that Hurwitz's new meas-
ures will create unemploy-
ment for industrial workers
at a time when the govern-
ment is encouraging work-
ers to switch to industrial
jobs.
According to a just pub-
lished study by a firm of fi-
nancial consultants affil-
iated with the Bank Leumi,
inflation may increase by 40
percent over the next three
months 'as a result of the
government's austerity
measures.
The study found that con-
sumer prices will rise 20
percent higher than origi-
nally expected. Although
subsidy cuts will save the
treasury IL 8.5 billion, the
government's debts exceed
that figure gy IL 2 billion.
Manufacturers say,
meanwhile, that the cre-
dit freeze alone will force
them to raise prices by at
least 10 percent.
A Knesset debate on the
new economic measures
was interrupted when
Communist MK Charlie Bi-
ton, leader of the Black
Panthers, committed a de-
liberate breach of etiquette.
Taking the podium' to
urge the release of 20 per-
sons arrested in the
Jerusalem riots, Biton de-
clared: "Nobody listens to
the plight of the weaker
strata, neither in the gov-
ernment nor in the Knesset.
It is like talking to the
wall." Thereupon he turned
his back on the chamber and
continued his remarks "to
the wall." Furious Likud
Mks walked out. The
chairman of the session or-
dered a recess.
Hurwitz has already con-
ceded to one demand by the
labor federation. He said
the government would con-
sider raising the cost-of-
living allowances periodi-
cally given wage earners, to
100 percent of the inflation
though previously it was 80
percent of the cost-of-living
increase. He also an-
nounced that the incre-
ments will be paid in
January instead of next
April when they are nor-
mally due.
But the strongest protests
within Histadrut were over
Hurwitz's freeze of wage
agreements. Under his pro-
gram, labor contracts up for
renewal next April, the be-
ginning of the new fiscal
year, will be extended until
April 1981.
If this is implemented in
the public sector the private
sector will doubtlessly fol-
low through. Hurwitz said
the freeze is necessary to
preserve the real value of
wages.
The minister told the
Likud Histadrut members
that tough times lay ahead,
that some firms might go
bankrupt and there might
be unemployment. But the
desperate condition of the
economy demands major
surgery, he said.
The Likud members
promised to dissociate
themselves from any at-
tempt by Labor to exploit
the economic austerity in
an attempt to topple the
government.
Meanwhile, Deputy Pre-
mier Yigael Yadin warned
that he will pull his Demo-
cratic Movement out of the
government coalition if
Hurwitz's program affects
"Project Renewal," the mas-
sive slum clearance and re-
habilitation project under-
taken by the government in
partnership with overseas
Jewry.
According to Yadin, the
riots in Jerusalem last week
by Black Panthers and resi-
dents of poverty neighbor-
hoods might have been
avoided had Hurwitz given
some assurance on "Project
Renewal."
Yadin said several
thousand members of the
Black - Panther movement
and residents of poverty
neighborhoods in
Jerusalem demonstrated in
several parts of the city
against the government's
new austerity economic
program and its expendi-
ture of money for settle-
ments on the West Bank.
In what observers said
was the most violent
demonstration by Jews her
since 1971 when Blac
Panthers first took to the
streets, the protesters
burned tires, tossed barrels
and hurled rocks at police.
One police car was set on
fire.
UJA Will Honor Timerman
NEW YORK — "It is very
important to be a Jew. After
that, we can discuss all the
other points."
These are the words of
Jacobo Timerman, the
Argentinian Jewish editor
recently released from
house arrest after years of
worldwide protest. Timer-
man is slated to receive the
United Jewish Appeal 1979
David Ben-Gurion Award
during the UJA national
conference, at a public as-
sembly in Avery Fisher
Hall, Lincoln Center, on
Dec. 7.
The Avery Fisher Hall
assembly will also include a
tribute to recently released
Soviet Jewish Prisoner of
Conscience Boris Penson, a
dramatic reading by actor
Eli Wallach, and a concert
by the Soviet Jewish
Emigre Orchestra, under
the direction of Lazar Guz-
man.
Timerman will receive
the Ben-Gurion Award
for his "struggle against
oppression and for the
right to live a Jewish
life." The 1978 award
* *
went to Soviet Jewish
Prisoners of Conscience.
Timerman said, "We owe
so much to the Jews of Rus-
sia. In Argentina, I had a
very very bad feeling be-
cause I thought that, after
all, I was under house ar-
rest; not in so bad conditions
as the Jews who were in
Russia.
"The decision of the Jews
of Russia to fight for being
Jews is something that I
think we don't realize the
importance of. That means
really that Jews can sur-
vive. This is something they
show to us.
"Freedom as a human
being and freedom as a Jew
— they are very different. I
am used to the idea of being
free. I suppose it is not dif-
ficult to live like a free
human being. But what is
really difficult is to live as a
free Jew. This is something
I never imagined, it was an
experience I never had.
"I have been a free man,
but I never was a free Jew.
In Israel, you are a free Jew,
and I am discovering every
day what it means."
*
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Jacobo Timerman, left, is shown with Irving
Bernstein, executive vice chairman of the United
Jewish Appeal.
Israeli Teachers in Treasury Dept.
food
outhfield,
Michigan,
Telephone
358-3663
29161 Northwestern, S'
JERUSALEM (JTA) —
Youth Aliya teachers in
Kiryat Shemona have each
contributed 25 hours of
work to the Treasury as
their part in the efforts to
strengthen the economy.
In a letter to Cabinet
ministers and Histadrut
Secretary General
Yeruham Meshel, the
teachers noted that they
have raised the contribu-
tion despite their relatively
low salaries because "Is-
rael's teachers should be at
the spearhead of every vol-
untary action."
The teachers believe‘their
contribution would save the
state tens of thousands of
pounds. They expressed the
hope that other workers
would follow.