A few months ago, it was announced that understandings had been reached between the parties involved in the employment conditions of Foreign Ministry employees overseas, and it seemed that the long crisis, part of which stopped issuing passports at Israeli missions, was over. Now it seems that the crisis in negotiations is renewing.
According to information in our possession, the signing of an agreement that will resolve the crisis at the Foreign Ministry has been delayed, and Israeli citizens abroad may find themselves unable to renew their passports or issue them within a short time.
Israel Hayom has learned that the ministry's workers' committee today instructed missions around the world to prepare for the recommencement of sanctions, and the first step planned is to stop issuing passports to Israeli citizens residing abroad through consulates around the world.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem (archive), photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Airline officials, who maintain regular working relations with consulates in all matters related to issuing official documents, were also exposed to similar information. In a directive issued by the workers' committee to the consulates, they were asked to hurry up and end the open issuance processes at embassies in order to minimize the expected harm to civilians.
Last year, when labor relations at the Foreign Ministry deteriorated, and the workers began sanctions, culminating in the shutdown of key branches of the ministry, including disruption of VIP visits, disruption of services to Israeli citizens abroad, issuance of work visas to foreign workers in the fields of nursing, agriculture and food, and other activities.
The crisis at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs lasted several years, and began due to workers' claims of abusive employment conditions, including overtime and on-call work without compensation, delayed promotion of employees for years, low salaries for Ministry employees stationed in Israel, inadequate salaries for cadets, and ongoing erosion of expenses and payment of salaries to Ministry employees stationed abroad.
Foreign Minister Eli Cohen. He said that a budget had been allocated to solve the crisis, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Foreign Minister Eli Cohen recently announced a special budget that was reserved as part of the budget to resolve the dispute, but the signing of an agreement between the Finance Ministry and the Foreign Ministry that would end the crisis has not yet taken place.
If the measure is indeed implemented and the issuance of passports at missions abroad is stopped, tourists who lose their passports will have to deal with complex situations and will be required to issue transit permits in order to return to Israel, while Israeli residents living abroad will also have to deal with difficulty in issuing their passports.
The Foreign Ministry workers' committee told Israel Hayom: "We have been waiting for a long time for a solution to the crisis, but there are sources in the Ministry of Finance who mistakenly believe that it will be possible to withdraw the harm to the workers indefinitely. At last week's workers' meeting, it was decided to launch sanctions, and we hope that no one will test our patience, which is running out. If there is no breakthrough in negotiations, as a first step, the issuance of passports at consulates will stop."
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