Israel - Postal Service Down as Hundreds of Posties Strike

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Postal Service Down as Hundreds of Postal Workers Strike http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/ ... 1-YkfldVso" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hundreds of postal workers staged a mass protest outside the Tel Aviv postal service branch Tuesday morning, over plans to fire over 2,000 postal service workers.

Demonstrators called for the government to intervene immediately to save the workers' jobs, as well as the postal service as a whole, and for CEO Haim Almoznino to take responsibility for what they claim is ongoing mismanagement.

Disgruntled postal service workers have declared an indefinite strike until the situation is resolved. Representatives said that if drastic changes were not made to the Israeli Postal Service, the service would default by the end of the year.

Simon Farjun, Chairman of the Employees' Union, expressed shock at the Postal Service's non-response to the strike.

"When we announced the strike yesterday, I was expecting to get a phone call from management to try to resolve the crisis as soon as possible," Farjun said. "It didn't happen - they don't care."

"We are pained to be striking today, but we are fighting for our survival - for the homes and livelihoods of thousands of workers," he continued. "We regret the harm this causes for the hundreds of thousands of customers who visit post offices daily throughout the country."

"We have no choice but to fight, with all our means, to keep thousands of workers from having to collect unemployment," he said. "The Workers' Federation backs us throughout the process and has provided us with the means to continue striking."

"This is a difficult struggle, a struggle for our lives," he added. "Postal workers do not earn a lot of money and endure Sisyphean labor. We do not cry about it. We want to make a decent living. We have agreed to work toward rehabilitating the Postal Service and take difficult steps; we have a recovery plan ready with hope for our future. We also want to thank [Communications] Minister [Gilad] Erdan for agreeing to intervene with the crisis."

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Striking postal service makes deliveries of matriculation exams, gifts for veteran families

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Israel Radio reported on Tuesday that an exceptions committee for the Israel Postal Company workers would be making an exception and delivering matriculation exams as well as letters and gifts which the state sends annually to bereaved families of fallen service members.

The committee also stated that it is considering further exceptions, such as the delivery of life saving medications.
The Israel Postal Company escalated what was a labor dispute into a full strike on Tuesday, after refusing to deliver mail in Tel Aviv and the Center on Monday.

The dispute centers around a plan to restructure the financially unstable company that includes dismissing 2,000 workers and which the postal union complained was “unilateral.”