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Ukraine? Not a dangerous place: the struggle between Foreign Ministry employees and the Ministry of Finance - Walla! Of money

2022-03-01T11:00:44.695Z


Foreign Ministry workers are at the forefront of the struggle to rescue Israelis and Jews from Ukraine, but at the same time their heads are not only in the battles between Putin and Zlansky, but also between the workers' committee and the ministry


Ukraine?

Not a dangerous place: the struggle between Foreign Ministry employees and the Ministry of Finance

Foreign Ministry workers are at the forefront of the struggle to rescue Israelis and Jews from Ukraine, but their heads are not only in the battles between Putin and Zlansky, but also between the workers' committee and the Ministry of Finance.

In the run-up to the crucial meeting between the parties, we tried to understand what the controversy was about and discovered that Ukraine was a "safe place".

Liat Ron

01/03/2022

Tuesday, 01 March 2022, 12:28 Updated: 12:46

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At the beginning of February, the Israeli embassy in Kiev closed.

Neither Putin was responsible for its closure nor Zalansky or even Yair Lapid, but the Israeli Ministry of Finance, which demanded that embassy staff retroactively return the additional risk they received in 2021, which stands at 4% of their salary, claiming Kiev is not considered a dangerous place.



In the January salary, paid at the beginning of February, the workers discovered that the supplement had been deducted from their salary and almost nothing was left of it.

An embassy administration officer, for example, was surprised to find that his pay slip was only a hundred dollars.

This is how it is when serving in a "non-dangerous place"



until the Foreign Ministry staff, which for 11 years in a row has been conducting almost a labor dispute following sanctions and strikes, decided to immediately close the embassy gates.

Only after the intervention of Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, who spoke directly with Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman, was the money returned, but the risk increase for 2022 was canceled.



Against the background of the difficult battles in Ukraine, this decision, of course, is completely puzzling and unfounded and perhaps mainly expresses the attitude his Foreign Ministry employees receive from their colleagues in the Ministry of Finance.



While Foreign Ministry employees work around the clock at border crossings and help expel Israelis from the fire zones in Ukraine, the committee threatens to paralyze the ministry's activities if the abusive treatment they claim receives from the Ministry of Finance does not end.

A crucial meeting between the parties is scheduled for Wednesday (tomorrow).

Good to know (promoted)

It is unbelievable what happened to him in just 10 weeks

Submitted on behalf of TI SWIM

Escape from Ukraine with the help of Foreign Ministry employees (illustration) (Photo: Reuters)

What happened to the shell?

The last collective agreement with Foreign Ministry employees was signed in 2017 and dealt only with wages and not with an envelope of the employees' terms of employment, which includes entitlement to "representative additions", funding for family studies, language studies, hospitality and more.

The Ministry of Finance decided to deal in depth with the envelope and began to deduct tax and cut back on the ancillary conditions that employees had before.

The issue reached the Labor Court and two weeks ago a ruling was issued stating that the state has no right to violate the conditions of the workers without lawful negotiations.



"The envelope that the workers receive," says Yossi Levy-Safri, chairman of the Foreign Ministry workers' committee, "can reach a third of their salaries."

For example, the children of the apostles study in private settings, which are funded by the state.

An employee loses a salary a year if he has to pay tax on them.

They also canceled the financing of flights for single workers to Israel.



"The envelope in difficult countries is more than necessary and the Treasury has lost the brakes. It got to the point where this week I was approached by the ministry's management to help persuade workers to go to Germany and Brussels. People do not want to work abroad because it does not pay off for them."

22.2, Evacuation of the Israeli Embassy in Kiev.

"Not a dangerous place" determined by the Treasury (Photo: Reuters)

"Public sector wage peaks"

Despite the committee's claims, sources involved in the negotiations describe an almost completely different reality and claim that Foreign Ministry employees earn high salaries that could easily reach NIS 30,000. And updated, and yes - there are payments off the slip that have not been taxed and it's time to try them out



.


"

The emissaries receive a high salary, they are the highest paid in the public sector together with the doctors, funding in schools, a representation fee of NIS 3,000 per accommodation.



"


"In the end there are matters that are not related to us but to the management of the office that does not update the employees in the decisions that are made and there are people who believe in it. Really we can not understand what exactly the problem is and what they want. That is certainly not the case. "

Escape in Ukraine.

Foreign Ministry workers are here to help, but warn: "This too will have an end" (Photo: Yoav Itiel)

The couple does not work abroad

Yossi Levy-Sefri is willing to elaborate and even sets a personal example.

"I work in the middle class and together with my spouse we manage to bring home about NIS 25,000 net at the end of the month.



Abroad he does not work, or find a part-time job, his pension rights are violated, his career and ability to find work when he returns home, and the burden of earning a living Of the family falls on me.

The economic damage is very great and there is no adequate compensation.

Veterans of the ministry tell how they would pull each other by the hair to go on a mission in Eritrea, which is not considered a coveted destination, and today there is no chance that a veteran will go there and pay the price.



"There is also the issue of employment in the country. The Foreign Ministry headquarters works 24/7. I am in charge of Latin America and when I get home the missions there just wake up, so work into the night. Abroad the fact is global and I am supposed to work by the hour, only no one pays I have overtime or standby.



"If there is a cut in the situation at the Foreign Ministry, dozens of employees are zooming in on Saturdays, who need to be updated, read material and present things to everyone, this too is done without compensation. "But it will also have an end."

The Oknin couple land in Israel.

According to Foreign Ministry employees, the emissaries who rescued them received a salary in Turkish lira, even though it was eroded by 50% (Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

Between Lapid and Oknin

If the Ministry of Finance is guilty, why did you distribute venomous videos against Foreign Minister Yair Lapid?



"It was with humor, we wanted him to get involved and it is no longer relevant. The foreign minister and the CEO said themselves that they support us and that our struggle is right.

The role of the Minister is to run the ministry and solve the acute problems and we expect Torch to solve them.

What happens every time, the firm gets into a frenzy around the issue of one silly deal or another.

Instead of dealing with work, we deal with shattering in front of the Ministry of Finance.


"I will give another example. Everyone remembers the Oknin couple imprisoned in Turkey. At the Consulate General in Ankara they committed suicide over the incident and did everything possible to help the couple. The Turkish currency exchange rate collapsed by 50% at that time and who forgot? "And they have no money left, even though the agreement from 2017 is in shekels. We said, okay, we will come to you, you will pay in dollars. Until that happened, several good months passed, months when the system was crazy because of four Foreign Ministry envoys."

The Israeli consulate in New York is closed in 2018. A struggle that has lasted for 11 years (Photo: Walla! NEWS, -)

"Cheeky, but we'll try to resolve"

And let's go back for a moment to Ukraine and the emissaries who are at the border points around the clock and helping to rescue Israelis from the line of fire.

Their families were evacuated from Kiev on the Saturday before the outbreak of hostilities as ordered by the Foreign Ministry, the children were expelled from schools and kindergartens from day to day.



When they arrived in Israel, they stayed in a hotel for a month, and were told that in the second month they had to participate in 10% of the cost and in the next one in 20% and if the fighting continued, from the fourth month they would have to find housing at their own expense.

Kindergartens and the initial equipment, from bedding, to cutlery, to cleaning materials and utensils, all of which are in Ukraine, as they can not be transferred to Israel, must be paid for by themselves



. Wages in the Ministry of Finance threaten to paralyze the Foreign Ministry if the meeting on Wednesday with representatives of the Ministry of Finance does not go well.



Negotiators say they will be happy to hear their claims and prevent a strike. On holiday.

"This population is rude, but we will try to resolve it."

  • Of money

Tags

  • Ministry of Foreign Affairs

  • Ministry of Finance

  • Yair Lapid

Source: walla

All business articles on 2022-03-01

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