MKs Vote to Forgo Pay Hike in Wake of COVID-19 Crisis

By: Aryeh Savir

The Knesset Committee approved for its first reading a bill to repeal the update of the salaries of Knesset Members in 2021, a pay hike the MKs were to receive following an absurdity generated by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) financial crisis.

The committee’s chairman, MK Eitan Ginzburg, said at the opening of the meeting that Israel is “facing a difficult and complex period in which Israeli society is facing a health crisis and also a severe economic crisis, an era when the Israeli economy is in a recession. Many have lost their jobs and this also has an impact on MKs’ salaries.”

A bizarre situation has developed recently in which the average wage in Israel has gone up during the financial crisis, because those with low wages are now unemployed, while the very high wage earners have maintained their jobs, and so only their incomes are counted when calculating the average income.

The MKs salaries and those of senior civil service officials are updated annually, in accordance with the rise of the average income. This year, because of the financial oddity, they are slated to receive a several thousand shekels raise.

This is “inappropriate and unreasonable at such a period and should be avoided,” Ginzburg said.

The Minister of Finance proposed freezing and cutting the salaries of officials two months ago but this issue is still under discussion in the government.

Therefore, the Knesset decide to initiate a freeze on MKs salaries and the cancellation of the planned update in January 2021.

Ginzburg said he believes that other senior officials, including the president and judges, will also have their pay hike be frozen.

The Finance Committee intends to discuss a similar proposal that will apply to officials whose salaries are linked to the salaries of Knesset Members.

According to the bill, in view of the economic crisis generated by the pandemic in Israel and the “MK’s desire to share the economic burden,” it is proposed that in 2021 the salaries of MKs will not be updated according to the change in the average wage.

The salary of a Knesset Member is NIS 45,274 per month. The average salary in Israel now stands at about NIS 11,500. The average wage in the economy is expected to rise in January 2021 at a sharper rate than usual, since due to the corona crisis in 2020 many workers, mainly low paid, were fired or put on unpaid leave. (TPS)