Israel's local authorities strike over 'anti-resident' budget

Sunday morning saw a local authority protest take place in Jerusalem’s government precinct in response to the passing of the national budget for 2023-2024 which, according to the Federation of Local Authorities in Israel, “abandons the residents” of Israel. Dozens of garbage trucks were parked to block Kaplan Street in Jerusalem, in front of the Prime Minister's office as part of the protest, which was called from 7:00 until noon.

“At the end of the day, budgets for the authorities are budgets for the residents. The government promises to lower the cost of living and lower taxes, but in the end, the budgets were spent to increase the number of classes,” said the Federation of Local Authorities in Israel CEO and Mayor of Modi’in Haim Bibas.

Israel's "burning issues"

A statement from the Federation criticized the budget's inattention to Israel’s “burning issues,” highlighting Israel’s governmental instability as a culprit in the current state of affairs.

“The state budget, which was supposed to deal with the most burning issues in the country, does not deal with and does not deal with basic failures, which were neglected for many years due to the instability of the central government and the holding of repeated election campaigns, in these years,” it read.

“We bleed from crisis to crisis, in every field: from personal security, housing, transportation, a severe shortage of manpower, especially in education - and the list goes on. Instead of using the local government, which is the executive arm of the state — instead of providing all the resources that will guarantee the best service to residents — they are busy with how to weaken [that service],” it continued.

Also listed within the statement was a series of demands to be met by the government, including:

• More classrooms being built,
• The settlement of a satisfactory salary agreement with the Teachers Union,
• Increased funds to facilitate student transportation,
• The establishment of a “property tax fund" to alleviate the effects of the housing crisis for young couples,
• Updating grants for socioeconomic balance and development
• Full realization of sectoral five-year plans to develop Arab, Druze and Circassian local authorities
• Strengthening and protection of buildings and urban renewal
• Management and maintenance of beaches

This is the second in a series of measures taken by the Federation to express the local authorities’ need for more funding and government support.

On Thursday, most of the country's local authorities suspended their services for the day, including locally provided education services (with the exception of special needs education), school bus services, school security services, welfare, infrastructure, cleaning and trash collection.

All of the major authorities participated in the strike except for Jerusalem.

The measures did not come out of the blue, Federation of Local Authorities in Israel CEO and Mayor of Modi’in Haim Bibas said last week. He said that he had held meetings and gave warnings, but that the Finance Minister did not show that it cared for his organization's demands – and with the budget about to be approved, it was time to show the ministry how important the local authorities were.

Also on Thursday, the Teachers Union initiated a strike that disrupted the operation of high school education. On Sunday morning, the National Student and Youth Council sent an urgent letter to Ran Erez, the chairman of the Teachers Union, calling for a halt to the strike and a joint dialogue.

"We, the students of Israel, love our teachers and will continue to stand by their side to obtain just and fair wages, but we will not allow the students to be political toys in the struggle,” the letter read. “The National Student and Youth Council calls on you, Ran Erez, to completely stop the sanctions that harm Israeli students and to continue the struggle in other ways that do not harm the educational process of Israeli students.”