The High Court of Justice today dismissed the appeal filed by the state against the National Labor Court decision in late July to order a one-month stay of the tenders published by the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Transport for building private ports, in order to allow talks with the Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) on the matter.
The High Court of Justice's ruling is a blow to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Minister of Finance Yair Lapid, and Minister of Transport Yisrael Katz, who filed the appeal, even though the Labor Court's ruling did not set a precedent and even banned a strike, which would have caused hundreds of millions of shekels in damage. Katz exacerbated the situation, when in response to the Labor Court ruling, he hinted that he "would make it clear to the court" that he would continue the reform in his own way, even if it required legislation.
After reading the appeal and the response to it, Supreme Court Judge Zvi Zylbertal ruled that he found no reason to intervene in the Labor Court's ruling or to issue an injunction at this time. He did not close the door on the state, at least not formally, saying that, after the parties file the report on the progress of the negotiations by September 2, as ordered by the Labor Court, he will review the appeal.
National Labor Court Vice President Yigal Plitman, Judge Amiram Rabinovich, and Judge Ronit Rosenfeld sharply criticized the government's conduct in their ruling, calling it "bad faith". The judges referred to the government's decision to change "overnight" the arrangement reached six months earlier with the Histadrut and the Ashdod Port workers committee, which had reached the stage of a draft agreement. Under the draft, the parties agreed to the privatization of Ashdod Port Company Ltd. and to the construction of a private port adjacent to it, alongside a series of promises to protect the Ashdod Port's financial soundness and power of its workers committee.
The Histadrut today expressed satisfaction at the High Court of Justice ruling. "There was no justification for appealing to the High Court of Justice while a hearing is underway at the National Labor Court," said the union's attorney in the case. "The attempt to undermine the Labor Court's ruling and its authority to manage the process was out of place. We hope that at this stage the state will respect the court's ruling and abide by it, and conduct genuine negotiations in an attempt to solve the disputes, as it should have done from the beginning."
The union's economists
Meanwhile, Ashdod Port workers committee chairman Meir Turgeman and Haifa Port Company Ltd. workers committee chairman Avinoam Shoshan have hired economists Prof. Avia Spivak and Dr. Meir Amir to examine whether there is a real need for the construction of two more ports in Israel. "We know the truth," said Shoshan, "and it is that they are throwing sand in the eyes of the public."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 22, 2013
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2013