The Histadrut, Israel’s national trade union center, announced yesterday that it would be calling a general strike of all public sector workers in local government to begin after the Hanukah holiday — on 12 December.

In a report on the union website (in Hebrew only), the union explains that the cause of the strike is the employers’ refusal to pay the one-off bonus of NIS 2,000 which was agreed as part of the public sector pay deal.

Histadrut leaders said they cannot sit with folded arms while local government employees are held hostage to a dispute between the national and local governments.