ISRAELE: SCIOPERO ALLA ISRAEL ELECTRIC COMPANY

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Dopo le proteste interne in Israele per i numerosi tagli allo stato sociale, a seguito delle quali il governo Netanyahu ha dovuto fare una parziale marcia indietro, si somma il clima conflittuale aperto dalle organizzazioni sindacali. Il 23 dicembre sono cominciati scioperi a sorpresa all’interno della IEC (israel electric company) dovuti al mancato accordo tra azienda e sindacati per l’attuazione delle riforme previste, a seguito delle quali sarebbero a rischio centinaia di posti di lavoro.

Su una delibera governativa del 1996 che imponeva riforme strutturali alla IEC (sostanzialmente lo scorporo dell’azienda unica pubblica in più aziende private) nell’arco di dieci anni (con termine quindi nel 2006) nulla è stato ancora fatto; in questi 8 anni i vari esecutivi hanno semplicemente concesso proroghe su proroghe. Il conflitto innescato dai sindacati arriva sulla scia della recente decisione dell’Antitrust israeliana di bocciare un cartello di due aziende energetiche per la gestione e la distribuzione di gas.

Il Ministero dell’Energia ha richiesto un’ulteriore proroga per la IEC fino a gennaio 2016.

Gli scioperi si stanno facendo pesantemente sentire rallentando, quando non addirittura sospendendo, le riparazioni ai guasti elettrici e le attività amministrative nei vari uffici, compreso il servizio dei centralini telefonici.

A seguire l’articolo del “Times of Israel”

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http://www.timesofisrael.com/power-company-workers-call-surprise-strike/

The Israel Electric Corporation’s workers’ union announced Tuesday afternoon it will begin an open-ended strike effective immediately, cutting operations to a minimized weekend footing.

Miko Tzarfati, chairman of the IEC workers’ union, said the strike had been called over concern that crowding in the energy market could lead to the firing of hundreds of workers.

He announced the strike during a discussion by the Knesset’s Finance Committee, chaired by Labor MK Avishai Braverman.

“The time has come for decision makers to realize what might happen if the IEC is not here tomorrow,” Tzarfati said. “The implications of firing hundreds of employees are disastrous. Who will see that electricity keeps flowing to the State of Israel?”

The IEC working solely on a Shabbat footing means that not all power disruptions reported to the company by consumers will be dealt with swiftly and customer service offices and hotlines will be suspended until the strike ends.

The strike comes in response to a collapse in negotiations on reform at the IEC that was legislated more than a decade ago and not implemented since. In 1996 the government voted to revoke the IEC’s license to manufacture, distribute and service the electricity system within a decade (i.e., by 2006), unless the company underwent an extensive reform. Every attempt at reform failed and the government has been voting again and again to extend the IEC’s licenses. The vote must receive approval by the Knesset Finance Committee.

“The continued existence of the IEC is at the edge of a precipice and the worker’s union is not going to be the responsible adult when all warning lights have been flashing for a long time,” Tzarfati said in the committee meeting. “In its current condition, the company cannot give the public the service it deserves.”

“Power plants are given to tycoons and to [foreign] actors which steal the IEC’s income and bring it to collapse. This all comes at the expense of the public,” he said.

The announcement by Tzarfati comes hot on the heels of a decision by the Antitrust Authority to break up a deal that allowed a consortium of two energy companies to develop Israel’s largest gas fields.

That decision came just a day after the authority announced that it was considering voiding the agreement that allows US-based Noble Energy and Israel’s Delek Group to develop the Leviathan and Tamar gas sites in the Mediterranean, on grounds that the arrangement constitutes a cartel.

The Energy Ministry this week distributed a memorandum asking the committee to postpone the implementation of IEC reform for another year, until January 1, 2016.

However, several top officials neglected to show up at the Finance Committee session Tuesday morning. The chairman and CEO of the IEC, chairman of the Israel National Economic Council Advisory Committee Ori Yogev and senior Energy Ministry officials were all absent from the committee’s session.

In light of this Braverman decided not to renew the IEC licenses until the appearance before the committee of Energy Minister Silvan Shalom, Yogev and IEC chairman Yiftah Ron-Tal.

The Finance Ministry said that the worker action was not allowed under court instructions to avoid strikes while the reforms are pending. “This is a violation of the court instructions on the matter and comes against all existing understandings. These sanctions are intended to create unnecessary pressure on the government and will harm all consumers and the entire market for no good reason,” the ministry said in a statement.

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