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The Committee notes the Government’s reply to the comments of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) dated 10 August 2006 in which the latter alleged that the management of the United Mizrahi Bank had violated the right to strike through hiring strike breakers. The Committee notes that the Government acknowledges that a labour dispute took place and that parties to the dispute were caught up in levelling accusations due to the sensitivity over dismissal of workers. The Committee recalls that the hiring of workers to break a strike in a sector which cannot be regarded as an essential sector in the strict sense of the term, and hence one in which strikes might be forbidden, constitutes a serious violation of freedom of association.

The Committee further notes the communication of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) dated 28 August 2007, in which it alleges that a general strike involving 600,000 public sector workers was called off on 30 November 2006 following a decision by the Labour Court and that a strike at the Ben Gourion airport had led to a similar ruling. Recalling that the prohibition of the right to strike in the public service should be limited to public servants exercising authority in the name of the State, the Committee requests the Government to provide its observations on the ITUC’s communication and to transmit the Labour Court’s decisions in the two abovementioned cases.