Photo Credit: Serge Attal / Flash 90
A woman in a wheel chair prepares to board An Egged bus at the Haifa Central Bus Station.

The Finance Ministry and the Egged Bus Company may be heading for a collision next month if they cannot come to an agreement on how to address the question of how much of a subsidy the state will give the national bus collective.

The Histadrut Labor Federation announced Monday that if a subsidy agreement is not reached by March 21, the drivers will begin a nationwide strike.

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“Thousands of dedicated Egged drivers, who are transporting nearly 1.5 million passengers each day, are paying a heavy price for the powerlessness of the state, which has been neglecting the matter for a long time – too long a time,” said Histadrut chairman Avi Nissenkorn. He blamed the Finance and Transportation ministries for what he called “foot-dragging” on the subsidy for Egged operations in future years.

“We will not stand by while thousands of drivers are unable to make it to the end of each month and the government continues . . . to drag the public transport industry to unprecedented lows,” Nissenkorn said.

Globes reported that Egged has been advised by the government to sell nearly half its routes in order to generate funds to support the retirement of approximately 3,000 drivers. The move would reduce Egged’s market share from 37 percent to 20 percent.

But Egged is unwilling to reduce its market share and instead has demanded the government raise its subsidy by NIS 1.5 million to pay for the drivers taking early retirement, according to Globes.

Egged is the oldest and largest bus company in Israel, operating intercity and local bus routes.

Last month Egged drivers went on a one-day strike in the Jerusalem area after Egged management and the Finance Ministry failed to reach an agreement on the subsidies.

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Hana Levi Julian is a Middle East news analyst with a degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from Southern Connecticut State University. A past columnist with The Jewish Press and senior editor at Arutz 7, Ms. Julian has written for Babble.com, Chabad.org and other media outlets, in addition to her years working in broadcast journalism.