Without the supervision there will be no slaughtering except for the prevention of animal cruelty. A shortage in locally slaughtered beef is also expected.
"This is a mortal blow to preparations for the holiday," warned slaughterhouses, according to Ynet. "Work will stop and there won't be products for the holiday."
The labor dispute was declared after the Veterinary Inspection Corporation began operating on March 3, resulting in a change of the terms of employment for workers.
"The committee and the trade union in the Histadrut are working in every way to arrange the terms of hiring of employees, their terms of employment and retirement agreement, in accordance with the document of principles concerning the terms of employment of employees in the Veterinary Inspection Corporation, as well as to sort out issues with wages claimed by the employees," wrote the union.
According to the union, the attempts to work on the terms of employment began in September 2019. It had tried to work with the corporation to arrange suitable terms of employment, but the corporation failed to work with them – and even took unilateral action and negatively impacted the rights of workers, Ynet reported.
The steps taken by the corporation include the reduction of doctors' and veterinarians' wages; arbitrary determination of seniority for employees; a payment of wages to new employees contrary to the wage outline presented to them at the time of employment; a lack of clear procedures concerning vacation and sick days; and an arbitrary determination of wage increase.
"We are committed to avoiding animal cruelty and therefore chief physicians in factories are required to take necessary actions to prevent a state of animal cruelty. Our strength is in our unity, and it is time to make order and stop the ongoing harm being done to us. Good luck to all of us," wrote the union, according to the news outlet.
The Veterinary Inspection Corporation told Ynet that it is "diligent in resolving the various allegations, and ensures that it will continue to provide the supervision services and will take all necessary steps to do so in order to maintain a normal work routine."
Product shortages have plagued Israel in the past year for a variety of reasons, including an egg shortage and butter shortage that affected the country earlier this year.