Jerusalem Mayor Rabbi Uri Lupoliansky reached an agreement
with the Jerusalem division of the Histadrut on the transfer
of salaries to the city's Religious Council workers and
payments for fuel expenses at mikvo'os around the
city.
For the past several months the Religious Council workers
have not been receiving their pay as required by law. In
recent weeks the Mayor made numerous efforts to alleviate the
suffering of the workers, some of whom reached a state of
genuine privation. He conducted numerous negotiations with
various figures to enable the funding transfer needed to pay
salaries and keep the mikvo'os running properly.
During these negotiations Rabbi Lupoliansky insisted that the
funding that the City of Jerusalem was set to transfer be
earmarked for salaries and mikvo'os or else he would
not authorize it.
Eventually Mayor Lupoliansky had the funds transferred after
reaching an agreement with Mr. Chico Cohen, deputy chairman
of the Histadrut's Jerusalem division. According to the
agreement, the Religious Council would manage a special bank
account to which the funding for December salaries would be
transferred as well as NIS 1 million to cover mikveh
fuel costs. The two agreed that Mr. Cohen would
personally oversee the management of the separate bank
account and would guarantee the money was only used to pay
salaries and to cover mikveh operating expenses.
Rabbi Lupoliansky told Yated Ne'eman that in light of
the recent difficulties in paying salaries he had no
alternative other than to take this step. If the arrangement
is successful in ensuring December salaries get paid it will
remain in place in the coming months as well.
