El Al's Anguish

Violent clashes on the runway

The vote by Israel's Cabinet early last week to dissolve El Al, the country's national airline, sparked the most shocking labor confrontation of many in the carrier's strife-torn history. On Tuesday hundreds of protesting El Al workers stormed the Ben-Gurion International Airport outside Tel Aviv. The demonstrators flattened tires on the cars of El Al officials, ransacked the airline's offices, roughed up newsmen and burned effigies of the members of Prime Minister Menachem Begin's government while shouting, "Begin ben zonah [Begin is an s.o.b.]!"

By Wednesday the swarm of El Al workers at the airport had swelled to 1,000, most of whom brought along their wives and children. The families lay down on the runways in an effort to stop the flights of other airlines. When El Al pilots parked two Boeing 747s and one 707 on the main runway, the airport was forced to shut down for nearly 24 hours. Because there were women and children among the protesters, the government ordered the police to go easy. Only seven workers were arrested, but six demonstrators and eight policemen were injured in scuffles.

Confronted by a mounting crisis, Begin asked government negotiators to resume talks with the El Al employees. Appeased for the moment, most of the protesters quietly left the airport Thursday morning. Several Israeli newspapers in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv accused Begin of backing down in the face of violence.

The main issue in the conflict is management's demand for more control over airline operations. As things now stand, the eight employee unions have the power to veto most policy decisions. Airline officials would like, for example, to be able to lay off workers without union approval. Having lost $202 million since 1978, management argues that 1,000 of El Al's 5,000 employees must be dismissed for the carrier to be profitable.

In the past ten turbulent years, El Al has endured 69 strikes, and the strength of its unions has grown steadily. The government insists that if the unions do not agree to surrender much of their power by mid-November, it will dissolve El Al. If that happens, the government may create a new airline or sell El Al's assets. The unions believe that Begin is bluffing. Three previous governments threatened to shut El Al down but later relented. This time, however, El Al President Itzhak Shander says, "Enough is enough."

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