Israel public sector workers end strike

JERUSALEM, Nov 30 (Reuters) An Israeli public sector strike that shut down government offices and halted outgoing flights was called off today after the national labour court issued back-to-work orders, the labour federation said.

Most airports, seaports and government facilities had resumed operations as of 7 am (10:30 IST).

The Histadrut, which represents hundreds of thousands of workers, said the strike was in protest at the non-payment of salaries to 12,000 municipal workers and a failure to transfer money to pension and other employee benefit funds for 40,000 others.

The president of the National Labour Tribunal ruled yesterday night that the strike could not be resumed over the next seven days.

Ofer Eini, chairman of Histadrut, said if talks with Finance Minister Abraham Hirchson and Interior Minister Roni Bar-On did not lead to an acceptable solution, it had been given the option to continue the strike.

''If no solution is reached the court has approved a continuation of the strike, but we hope not to have to use that option,'' Eini said in remarks broadcast on Israel Radio.

Finance Minister Hirchson said it would not be an issue to pay the back-wages. He blamed a number of local authorities for allowing these to grow to more than 100 million shekels.

A prolonged strike would hurt Israel's economy and erode confidence at a time of recovery from the war against Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas in July/August. The economy has bounced back, helped by record foreign investment this year.

Two years ago, the Histadrut held a strike over similar issues.

At that time, local municipalities were in deep financial trouble but the government bailed them out, paying salaries in exchange for a belt-tightening programme.

REUTERS AB PM1527