The bus strike in Binyamin and Gush Etzion that was planned for Wednesday was canceled. After the transportation union for workers protested blatant violations of the collective agreement in the company, and after intensive negotiations, the company's management backed off from compromising the drivers' arrangements.
Among the understandings reached: until 11/15/23, i.e. in the next two months, there will be no sale of work arrangements to contractors at all. Any driver whose schedule is taken in favor of the contractors' work will receive the same payment for the amount of hours that was in the schedule that he was supposed to receive even if he received fewer hours and in addition every effort will be made to find him a schedule with the same amount of hours.
Drivers from whom arrangements have been taken will have priority in choosing vacated arrangements or new arrangements.
Rayed Mashal, chairman of the workers' committee, welcomed the agreement: "We insisted that a temporary problem - a lack of drivers during the holidays - would not become a permanent move, which would harm the livelihood of many."
"It's a shame that we had to threaten a strike to get to this moment and create unnecessary pressure among the passengers. But the bottom line is the important one. We hope that a year will pass and with it unilateral moves on the part of the management, in favor of working together to correct the deficiencies for the well-being of the drivers and passengers."
"The drivers said their words," said Tamar Ohana, head of the transportation branch for workers. "Not for dictates from above, but for real change from below. We stopped the trend of harming employees and in the coming weeks we will continue with intensive meetings for a comprehensive settlement of the arrangement issue."
