Foreign Ministry workers refuse to issue the new Finance Minister a diplomatic passport, as part of a heated labor dispute.

By Itamar Eichner

Employees of the Foreign Ministry are turning up the heat in a recent labor dispute by refusing to provide passport services to government officials. They are protesting an administrative stock regulation and the use of temporary workers to fill positions, plus they are demanding benefits for employees stationed in far-flung countries.

Finance Minister, Yair Lapid – Photo: Hezki Ezra

One of the responsibilities of employees at the ministry is to issue diplomatic passports to ministers and new Knesset members. These passports are issued once the person makes the request. Recently, Lapid requested that they issue passports for him and his wife, but due to the dispute, they were refused. Also refused were MK David Tzur (Hatnua) and MK Rina Frenkel (Yesh Atid).

The employee committee informed management, “As part of the labor dispute, we are instructing the consular office to freeze the issue of diplomatic licenses until further notice.”

The workers’ committee is furious over another issue: the establishment of a department of international relations under the direction of Yuval Steinitz.

“Anyone who feels hurt by the passport issue is invited to turn to the office of international relations,” the committee said. They directed all the offices of the embassy worldwide to boycott and not to cooperate with it. “It is an office that is illogical, it deals with nothing and wastes our tax shekels, it was put under the professional auspices of the Foreign Ministry, and poses real danger to national security.”

View original Ynet publication at: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4360428,00.html