The World : 450,000 Strike in Israel

About 450,000 Israeli civil servants staged a one-day warning strike to demand higher wages and a cut to a five-day workweek. Air traffic was paralyzed and radio and television were silenced. Beaches and stores were crowded as many Israelis took advantage of the time off on a normal workday. The strike--called by the Histadrut trade union federation, which represents nearly all of the civilian labor force of 1.4 million--came after Finance Minister Moshe Nissim broke off negotiations this month. Nissim said granting the federation’s demands would lead to increased public spending and renewed inflation. Inflation reached a peak of 445% in 1984; the estimated rate for this year is about 20%.