Employees at Ben-Gurion Airport have begun an ‘Italian strike’ without notifying passengers or airport management in advance, the Israel Airports Authority announced on Friday morning.
According to Maariv, Ground staff at the airport have refused to load and unload luggage on incoming and outgoing flights, causing congestion at the already crowded airport.
"The management of the Israel Airports Authority is working in cooperation with the workers,” the IAA stated.
“In light of the congestion, we are taking steps to resolve the issue as quickly as possible and apologize to passengers for the delays."
Despite many airlines suspending flights to Israel due to the war, Ben-Gurion saw over 70,000 passengers on Thursday on incoming and outgoing flights.
Airport workers deny that there is a strike
Pinchas Idan, chairman of the workers' committee at Ben-Gurion, has stated that airport staff are not striking at all.
“This is not a strike,” Idan said in an interview with PassportNews.
“I’m not at the age where I need to strike or try to disrupt things. There is simply a lack of staff,” Idan told PassportNews.
“Three teams didn’t show up for work yesterday. Come up to the belly of the plane in this heat. It’s impossible to work like that. I invite you to come and see it for yourself.”
According to Idan, management was warned about the lack of staff, but the workers were ignored.
“Instead of hiring, they wanted to fire a hundred workers. In the end, what did they do? They transferred them to part-time positions,” he said.