Long Lines at Gas Stations as Strike Looms
Israelis waited in long lines to fill up at gas stations as union workers halted fuel supplies ahead of a threatened general strike set to begin today.
Workers are protesting government plans to overhaul the country’s venerable welfare state. “There will be no buses, trains. The airport will be shut. There will be stoppages in the supply of electricity and water,” said David Pik, a spokesman for the Histadrut union group.
The government says the changes are needed if Israel is to compete globally and attract investment. Israel is mired in a recession brought on partly by a world slowdown and three years of Palestinian-Israeli violence. Unemployment is nearly 11%.
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