General strike, airport, stations closed

Описание: (21 Sep 2004)

Tel Aviv
1. Wide exterior of Ben Gurion International airport
2. Pan interior of empty hall, empty counters
3. Pull out of empty counters
4. Tilt down from "information" sign to counter with sign in English and Hebrew reading "Strike"
5. Pull focus of empty scanning machine area
6. Tilt down from flight screens to passenger
7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Voxpop, passenger affected by strike (no name given):
"It's a big problem today with the strike and we don't know if we are going today or this afternoon, we don't know, it's really bothering (me)."
8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Voxpop, passenger affected by strike (no name given):
"I have to decide whether I should call someone and go back to Yeshiva (Jewish college) and wait until the strike is over or just stick around here all day, which will be awful."
9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Voxpop, passenger affected by strike (no name given):
"I do hope that they could please the workers, give them more money , probably they deserve it."
10. Wide of passenger waiting at empty counter
11. Pull out of passengers waiting
12. Mid shot of row of empty counters

Jerusalem
13. Wide of petrol station
14. Various of cars queuing at station
15. Close up of man pumping gas
16. Various of National Insurance building
17. Wide exterior of closed bank
18. Close up of cash machine
19. Mid shot of customer checking if bank and machine are working
20. Various of closed post office
21. Various of closed parking meters

STORYLINE:

Tens of thousands of public-sector workers began an open-ended strike on Tuesday, shutting down much of the country and bringing
activity at Israel's international airport to a standstill.

Early Tuesday, all flights at Ben Gurion International Airport were cancelled. Several stranded tourists wandered around the terminal in confusion as they tried to find out if their planes would depart, but airline counters were closed.

Airport officials told Army Radio that incoming flights in the air at the time the strike began at 8:30 a.m. (0530 GMT) would be allowed to land. But flights slated to take off in foreign countries after that time were cancelled.

The shutdown began a week before the holiday of Sukkot, or the Feast of the Tabernacles, a peak time for tourism. Thousands of Israelis, Jewish tourists and Christian pilgrims are expected to pass through the airport for the holiday.

The strike affected most of the Israeli population in one way or another, closing banks, government ministries, kindergartens, sea ports and technical support offices at the national telephone and electric companies.

The Histadrut Labour Federation announced the strike on Monday after the government refused to dole out back pay for workers at local municipalities.

Due to a financial crisis, thousands of workers haven't been paid for several months.

Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to approve the payment of municipal workers' salaries until local councils agree to crack down on overspending.

Ministry and Histadrut officials were to meet later Tuesday, but no compromise proposals had been offered by either side, Israel Radio said.

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