Next week there will be elections for the position of chairman of the Histadrut labor union.

The current chairman of the Histadrut, Avi Nissenkorn, running for re-election, is frustrated that Shas made a deal with one of his opponents, Shely Yachimovitz.

According to Nissenkorn, Shas should have made a professional decision, a decision based on values and gratitude, to support him, but instead they made a political decision. Nissenkorn says he helped the haredi community a lot in his position as chairman, and he lists many examples. According to Nissenkorn, Shas made their deal with Yachimovitz, because however much he had promised Shas and done for them in the past, Yachimovitz promised more for their support.

Good morning, Mr. Nissenkorn. Shas, a political party, made a decision to support a candidate based on political issues and on who would promise them more. Does Mr Nissenkorn not know how the system works - how any political party works, let alone Shas (as a reminder, 10 years ago I coined the term "Shastitutes")?

The Labor Union called for a general strike today. That pretty much means the country services have been shut down. The reason is because the problem from a few months ago regarding unpaid municipal workers has still not been resolved, despite government promises many times to resolve it.

They rescheduled the strike a few times already and after the government not coming through on their promises another time, the Histadrut finally decided not to give them any more chances but to show they are serious. So we have a major strike shutting down the country right now. Hopefully it will be resolved quickly and things can get back to the normal level of inefficiency!

The strike was originally called to begin at 6am this morning. They compromised to push it off until 9am to allow a few extra hours for last minute negotiations. Until 9am nothing was shut down and no services were delayed. Everything (evertything that opens before 9am that is) worked normally until 9am. At 9am whatever was working in the public sector then shut down.

Everything, that is, except for one thing. The trains. Of all the striking authorities, everyone provided their services to the public until 9am except for the trains. People who went for earlier trains found the doors to the stations locked and signs saying they are on strike.

The Labor Union has announced that even if the strike continues, they will allow flights from England to land. The reason is the upcoming soccer (football for you non-Americans) match between Israel and England. They are expecting a lot of English fans to fly in and have decided that they should open the airport to these English hooligans.

At the same time, they are still undecided as to whether they will allow flights for 900 students returning from Poland (March of the Living) to land. That is aside from all the people travelling for personal reasons and business reasons who are stranded. The English soccer fans are more important. Soccer is a national emergency.

It is all a matter of priorities.