The Histadrut, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Finance reached an understanding on the last day of 2023 laying the groundwork for a new collective bargaining agreement for more than 1,200 Ministry employees in Israel and abroad. The agreement is expected to include an improvement in wages and working conditions for Ministry of Foreign Affairs employees and their families who work in Israeli embassies around the world. The agreements were signed after lengthy negotiations at the end of Foreign Minister Eli Cohen's term in office, due to rotation agreements in the coalition.
The agreement is expected to regulate the issue of working standards at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as employee promotion procedures. It was also agreed to update the wage distribution tables, with an emphasis on reducing gaps in favor of low-wage workers, a move that the Histadrut and the Ministry hope will facilitate the recruitment of high-quality young workers.
Additional agreements will offer workers incentives to go on missions in countries where service is more challenging, or where security conditions are more difficult. Furthermore, a new model was introduced to incentivize language studies, which will allow the Ministry to train diplomats to master different languages, including Arabic, Russian, German and Spanish.
The principles for the collective agreement were stated at an event in the presence of then-Foreign Minister Eli Cohen on his last day in office, Histadrut Chairman Arnon Bar-David, Chairman of the Israel Union of Government Employees (IUGE) Ofir Alcalay, Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ronen Levy, Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Yossi Dayan, Senior Deputy to the Payroll Commissioner at the Ministry of Finance Tali Oberman, Senior Manager at the Civil Service Commission Hagit Reshef, and the chairmen of the workers' union, Yair Fromer and Racheli Marli.
Histadrut chairman Arnon Bar-David said in a statement: “The employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs work during routine and state of emergency for the State of Israel in the international arena. Especially in these difficult days, these dedicated workers constitute our political and advocacy front in Israel and abroad, and create international collaborations that support national resilience, and fight for the truth of Israel all over the world.
“Today it is clearer than ever that we must take care of strengthening the foreign service, and that is why we are putting an end to a five-year labor dispute, through the joint work of the IUGE and the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Finance, together with the workers’ union. We will continue to strengthen the public sector, which is essential for all citizens of the State of Israel,” he continued.
Then-Foreign Minister Eli Cohen: “When I entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I identified the resolution of the labor dispute in the ministry as a central goal. The last few months, in which the employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs repeatedly demonstrated the importance of their activities to the war effort and the security of the State of Israel, made clear the importance of the foreign service to national strength. After years of neglect by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we were able to bring good news to the Ministry's employees and the citizens of the country. The new agreement will allow the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to continue to carry out the essential tasks for the security of the state and promote Israel's foreign relations.”
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich: “The employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are doing important work in the international arena, especially in this period. I am happy that I had the privilege of leading the Ministry of Finance at a time when we found solutions and reached understandings that bring an end to the ongoing labor dispute at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and issues that have been in dispute for many years. The agreement will allow the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to do their work faithfully and promote the State of Israel by upholding the principles and truths of the State of Israel.
“As we concluded wage agreements with the largest entities in the economy, we also took care of the employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” he continued. “My policy is to achieve agreements that benefit the workers and the Israeli economy. This is how we acted and this is how we will continue to act.”
Chairman of the IUGE, Ofir Alcalay: “The new agreement of principles brings to fruition our goal of strengthening the public sector, the backbone of the Israeli economy. Through investment in human capital, the women and men of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, they will be able to meet the major political challenges facing the country Israel in Israel and abroad, and to recruit, under improved conditions, a high-quality and professional workforce.”
Head of wages and labor agreements at the Ministry of Finance, Efi Malkin: “We are happy to reach an understanding and move towards a wage agreement for the employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after years of conflict in the ministry. The agreement is expected to provide the ministry's management with tools for improving the ministry's activities alongside carrying out a reform regarding standards and adapting the ministry's work to what is customary in other government ministries, as well as bring about a solution to issues that have been in dispute in recent years.”
The Foreign Ministry Workers’ Union stated: "We are committed to both our workers and to the State of Israel. In these difficult days that the State of Israel is going through, it is our duty to act to strengthen the foreign service and secure its future. Only a professional and strong Ministry of Foreign Affairs can guarantee the State of Israel victory in the political arena. We thank Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and Histadrut Chairman Arnon Bar-David who made great efforts to achieve an agreement despite the complex circumstances, and hope that indeed the agreement will be signed as soon as possible.”
The agreements ended a labor dispute declared by the ministry's workers that lasted for about five years, against the backdrop of the erosion of their terms and claims of violation of the agreements, damage to working conditions and delays in the promotion of many workers. During the negotiations, the workers' union declared a labor dispute and took aggressive actions to advocate for their position.
Foreign Minister Eli Cohen placed the issue of labor relations in the ministry as a central issue that he sought to promote. On January 1, Cohen switched portfolios with Energy Minister Israel Katz as part of the coalition agreements. The formation of understandings now before the exchange of ministers is expected to make it easier for the workers' union to complete the signing of the collective agreement in the coming weeks.
This article was translated from Hebrew by Lily Sieradzki.
