Holiday

Stephen Becharas... and The Staff Of

e4fWeieWr a r
6638 Telegraph Road at Maple

The Ideal Job:
Electric Co.

851-0313

In the Bloomfield Plaza

Sincerely Wish Their Many
Friends And Customers

A VERY
HAPPY NEW YEAR

Thank you for your gracious patronage.
It is with deep sincerely
that we wish everyone the best
in health, joy and prosperity.

Johnny and Pete Ginopolis
and the employees of

,-/

013‘tt9,11d

27815 Middlebelt at 12 Mile • Farmington Hills

851-8222

Heartily Wish Their Customers, Friends
And The Entire Community

AVERY HEALTHY AND
HAPPY NEW YEAR

FOOD &
SPIRITS

9/26
1997

R50

JOE AND HELMA BERNARDI
AND FAMILY
WISH ALL OUR FRIENDS
A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR

118 W. WALLED LAKE DRIVE, CORNER PONTIAC TRAIL • (248) 624 -1033
WALLED LAKE

Many years ago, it was told, mothers
in Israel used to aspire for their
daughters to marry an Egged bus dri-
ver. His job was secure and his
income relatively high.
These days, a shrewd mother
might encourage her daughter to cap-
ture the heart of an employee of the
Israel Electric Corp. The advantages
are even greater.
The Electric Co. is the largest sin-
gle industrial enterprise in the coun-
try, with about 10,000 permanent
employees and an additional 3,000
"temporaries." Average wage, which
figures out at about $42,000 a year, is
almost two and a half times higher
than the average wage in the econo-
my.
Added to this are very generous
annual bonuses, a guaranteed pension
plan which is recorded in the books
as worth some 5 billion shekels, and
certainly not least, free electricity.
One can always identify the home of
a power company employee because
the lights are always burning and
there are lots of power consuming
appliances, this in a land where elec-
tricity is expensive.
The company is a government-
owned monopoly, and despite pledges
by several administrations including
the present, to privatize it, all odds
are against such a step in the foresee-
able future. The reason: The most
powerful labor union in Israel. Some
years ago and effort was made to curb
its powers. The fingers on the switch
went to work, and the country
became black. No one since has ven-
tured to challenge the union's power.
Labor knows that once the pater-
nal and profligate boss (the govern-
ment) is replaced by private owners,
the atmosphere will change. In the
struggle that follows, inflated staff
will be dispensed with; subjects like
efficiency and costs will be taken into
consideration. Whereas the govern- • c":\
ment met growing expenses by rais-
ing the rates charged the public, pri-
vate owners will seek to turn a profit
by cutting costs. Experts calculate
that in electric companies abroad the
number of workers required to pro-
duce a fixed number of kilowatt
hours is a third less than in Israel.
Truth to tell, no administration
here has taken any serious steps to
privatize because government owner-

Call the sales
department at
(810) 354-7123

Ext. 209

IDEA•

on page 52