El Al Worker's Committee members riot over management meeting with pilots

The meeting was called to discuss the return of more pilots to work full time, after El Al extended the unpaid leave of thousands of employees until June 30.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
El Al workers protest major cuts; negotiations collapse overnight (photo credit: GAL ROTEM)
El Al workers protest major cuts; negotiations collapse overnight
(photo credit: GAL ROTEM)
El Al worker's committee representatives barged into a meeting between the company's management with Histadrut representatives and pilots' representatives and started yelling and throwing chairs around.
The meeting was called to discuss the return of more pilots to work full time, after El Al extended the unpaid leave of thousands of employees until June 30. About 6,000 employees of El Al and its subsidiaries are currently on unpaid leave.
The representatives of the worker's committee barged in to protest the move, claiming that while about 50% of the pilots have returned to their full-time jobs, 90% of the rest of the employees (maintenance, administration, ground crews, stewards, etc.) remain at home without receiving payment.
Histadrut head Arnon Bar-David has suspended the committee representatives after they stormed the meeting.
"This is crossing a redline of the worker's committee," Bar-David wrote to the worker's committee head Sharon Ben-Itzhak. "This was done against the Histadrut's orders, policy and the expected behavior of the employees' representatives, especially during a time such as this."
Israel's national carrier has converted some of its planes to cargo planes for the duration of the coronavirus crisis, but has made moves Sunday morning in an attempt to resume international flights as soon as possible.


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