On Tuesday, Histadrut Chair Arnon Bar-David made his first public comment about Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s proposed budget.
“In the past two days, I’ve seen headlines in all the newspapers: the minister of finance has taken all of his plans out of the drawer, to harm the public, the workers, and similar,” Bar-David said. “Once again, they’re pulling out damage to pensions and employee savings funds, once again the minimum wage, once again imposing taxes on the working man—this won’t be.”
He made this statement at the annual gathering of the social workers union in Jerusalem. “I’m in contact with people at the Finance Ministry, and they know that the Histadrut has always helped out when the state is in trouble. But this time, I stand by the fact that I want first to see the feasibility of this budget, and if the government even wants to go for this budget,” Bar-David said. “If the government understands that you can’t impose these cuts on the working man, and you have to first reduce state offices, to reduce coalition budgets, and to manage money the way it should be and not irresponsibly.”
Bar-David said that the Histadrut would be willing to cooperate with the proposed budget’s demands only if the government can show its ability to responsibly manage the funds. “And if not—none of this legislation will pass, and I want to see someone try to pass something in the Israeli Knesset against the workers. It won’t pass.”
This article was translated from Hebrew by Leah Schwartz.
