Just Too Equal

Many a Jewish doctor, lawyer or teacher seeking refuge in Palestine from the venom of Hitler's Europe was forced to earn his living by manual labor. This humbling necessity for common survival led in the new nation of Israel to a basic belief that no man was better than another, and hence should be paid no more. In the Israeli economy, teachers, doctors, civil servants and other professionally trained men were all paid workmen's wages. Any attempt to raise the scale for professionals is promptly met by an equal demand on the part of organized labor.

Last month, afraid that an all-round wage hike would whip Israel's cantering inflation into a gallop, the government reneged on a promise to raise professionals' pay. The professionals had taken all they could: 8,000 of them went on strike. Doctors, judges, lawyers, engineers, teachers and civil servants walked out of clinics, courtrooms, lecture halls and government offices, leaving the untrained and unskilled to fend for themselves. Said striking professors at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem: ''The future of Israel in the Middle East depends on its position as a state highly developed in industry, technology and science. Yet professional workers are involved in a constant and exhausting struggle for economic survival." Finance Minister Levi Eshkol's reply was to say that the nation could not afford raises. Besides, he added. "I would rather burn the money than hand it over to the professionals."

Last week, with Israel's technical machinery at a virtual standstill and with the nation's health in peril, the government had no choice but to make a token sur render. Seizing on a compromise offer from the strikers, it agreed to give them two-thirds of their promised pay raise now, and the rest within three years. Within twelve hours, the government announced that it was also considering increases for all workers.

The surrender settled the strike and put the professionals back to work at their drawing boards, operating tables and lecture platforms. But it stopped far short of redefining the professional's position in Israel. "To our leaders," said one indignant Israeli, "the illiterate in the transit camp is still just as good as the brain surgeon in Hadassah Hospital, which is an admirable point of view for the Lord to hold but a damn silly one for a man."

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