The Finance Ministry on Sunday said in a statement: “Generous offers were made but rejected. We regret that despite the agreement signed with the lab workers and the significant raises we gave them for processing coronavirus tests, the association is choosing to take advantage of the situation and go on strike at a time that is very sensitive, both in terms of economics and in terms of public health. We are willing to go back to the negotiating table at any time and call on the Association of Biochemists, Microbiologists and Laboratory Workers to join the fight.”The average salary of senior lab workers is higher than what the workers say it is, NIS 18,121 a month, the Finance Ministry said in a report, according to N12. Junior workers make an average of NIS 11,500, according to the report.On Sunday morning, Yisrael Beytenu Party chairman Avigdor Liberman, in a letter to Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, demanded that the lab workers’ strike be raised at Sunday’s coronavirus cabinet meeting to resolve the crisis.“The citizens of Israel woke up today to bad news,” he wrote. “The laboratory workers’ strike comes at a time when we are facing one of the most serious health crises we have known. The strike will affect not only those infected with coronavirus but also other patients with serious illnesses and those at increased risk of becoming ill.”Liberman called on Edelstein, “the minister in charge,” to raise the issue at Sunday’s coronavirus cabinet meeting to resolve the crisis.“The demands of the lab workers are not unreasonable, NIS 51 per hour instead of NIS 31. I am sure there is the money,” he wrote. “Admittedly, they are not as important as the Breslov Hassidim, but they are the ones who are at the forefront of the struggle against coronavirus. And regardless, their demands are justified.”Jerusalem Post staff contributed to this report.