Lapid attacks: "in the past sectors near the cashbox were not hit"

Minister of Finance and Chairman of the Histadrut held a joint press conference, which presented the agreement between them for the approval of the budget.

Yair Lapid finance minister and chairman of the Histadrut, Ofer Eini gathered tonight (Wednesday) for a joint press conference in Jerusalem.

Lapid referred to the harsh criticism he received since the publication of the bitter decrees: "I would like to stand here and tell what candy I am giving out, but unfortunately there is no miracle in these things. I will not hand out money I don’t have because I do not want to get into a situation like Greece.

"The right thing hurts the hard working man," he said, "but for the first time the working man is not the only victim."

He said: "The problem with the state is they only ever went to the middle class, but I also went into the pockets of other sectors, including large companies.
"Once, every time there was an economic problem, they walked to only one pocket, while they were a series of sectors, sitting at the cash box and were spared the effort. Now we have equal burden not only in one sense. We went to all the pockets. Whatever you see here is responsible behavior, after a period in which people did not take tough decisions. This is responsible behavior in a very complex situation. "

Eini referred to the agreement and said, "It was one of the most difficult negotiations I had, the state is in a severe crisis, there is no dispute about that, and the workers realized that we should bear the burden to help even slightly in favor of the Israeli economy."

Under the agreement, the salary increment rate of 1% promised to state employees rejected this July 2015, except for the contract workers engaged in maintaining and cleaning - will receive it within two months.

State employees will be compensated for the rejection of the salary increment for 2015 through an increase in their pension provisions by 1%. Increase will also apply to contractor employees.
MK Ariel Atias - Shas Chairman commented on Lapid's words and said "Lapid's greatest deception came to light."

"Under the guise of concern for the working man Lapid received 19 seats in the elections. Voters believed him and the new politics he promised. Now they are feeling deceived by him. We received a brutal budget which hurts the working man and disadvantaged population.

"Shas demands the Prime Minister to intervene and exclude the disadvantaged from cuts and tax hikes. Distributive justice is to take less of those who don’t have and more from those who have. Shas will lead to public protest and will fight in the Knesset against Lapid's cruel budget. "

Meanwhile, according to a survey published on Channel 2 poll that according to 42% of the public, Lapid functioned badly, according to 31% - he is functioning moderately and only 21% - functioning well.

50% think it is a mistake Lapid is in the Treasury; only 28% did not think it was a mistake.

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!