March 22, 2007	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 2, 1428

JERUSALEM, March 21: Israel's main workers union paralysed the country on Wednesday, shutting down airports, government offices and other essential services in an open-ended general strike over unpaid wages.

Around 400,000 public workers went on strike at 9 am (0700 GMT) after all-night reconciliation efforts between the government and the Histadrut labour federation failed to resolve the row.

Talks were continuing throughout the day, but have so far failed to yield results.

Government ministries, except for defence, shut their doors and stopped answering telephones. All border crossings were closed as the country's trains, planes and ports stopped running. Rubbish removal stopped and school buses ground to a halt.

Some even feared disruptions in the nation's water supply as the water authority scaled back operations to a minimum, the Yediot Aharanot newspaper reported.

Hospitals, security services, and public radio and television were operating as usual, along with banks and the stock exchange.

“We decided that the non-payment of wages to public servants must cease once and for all,” Histadrut secretary general Ofer Eini told public radio.

Eini has vowed the strike will continue until all civil servants receive their wages.

Around 50,000 travellers were herded through Israel's Ben Gurion international airport near Tel Aviv on Tuesday night as airlines tried to get them in and out of the country before the strike hit.

Despite the union action, a plane carrying the English football team heading for Israel for a crucial Euro 2008 qualifier will be allowed to land at Ben Gurion, an airport authority spokesman said.

Planes carrying 5,000 English football fans due in Israel to cheer on their team will also be allowed to touch down. The first planes were due in Wednesday at 1300 GMT.

Tel Aviv bar owners who are eagerly awaiting an uptick in sales to hard-drinking English football fans breathed a collective sigh of relief, Israeli television reported.

Eini said he didn't want to spoil the fun or Israel's chances of advancing by forcing Saturday's match to be cancelled.

It is feared that the airport shutdown will hurt Israeli tourism ahead of the Passover holiday starting on April 2, when tens of thousands of Jews travel to Israel from around the world to commemorate the biblical exodus from Egypt.

Eini said the strike was being held to protest against unpaid salaries in the public sector. The union claims that around 3,700 employees in over 50 local and religious councils have gone without pay for months.

“It is unacceptable that in a properly-functioning country employees go to work and don't get paid,” said Eini. “The prime minister promised a complete solution and when I say a complete solution, that means until the last employee (is paid).” The Israeli interior ministry says the wages of only 600 employees who work for municipalities that have consistently failed to collect taxes and other fees from residents are in arrears.

Finance Minister Avraham Hirshson, meanwhile, assured workers their wages would be paid before the Passover holiday.

Last month, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert averted another threatened strike by the union after he promised to resolve the unpaid wages crisis.—AFP