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In what the opposition is calling “election bribery” the cabinet on Sunday 29 Kislev approved an increase in the minimum wage in the public sector from 4,300 NIS monthly to 5,000 NIS. Mr. Netanyahu explained that this was a continuation of the administration increasing the minimum wage from 3,800 NIS to 4,300 back in 2011.

Opposition party MKs are angry over the timing since during the tenure of the outgoing cabinet they insisted they lacked the funds for such a move, yet weeks before the election they miraculously find a way to make it work.

Histadrut National Labor Federation Chairman Avi Nissankoren praised the move and said “By April many Israeli families will already feel the difference in their monthly salary”.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)