The employees gathered outside the locked gates of the Israeli newspaper south of Tel Aviv on Tuesday to protest financial problems, repeated replacement of managers and unpredictable future of the newspaper.

The protesters said they will keep protesting until their demands are met.

Financial problems have led to the dismissal of the owner of the newspaper, and the new manager plans to fire a number of employees and cut salaries in a bid to save costs.

The new owner also shut the paper’s printing house last week due to economic problems - nearly 11 months sooner than planned.

“We want a written commitment that the days when the paper was not printed will be counted as workdays and not as part of the voluntary retirement agreement,” an employee said.

“We have no agreement, we have no layoff notices, and the printing has moved elsewhere…We’ve been deceived and lied to from the beginning,” said another.

High taxes and low salaries have had adverse effects on the lives of Israelis, specifically the middle class, in recent years.

The 2013 budget of the Tel Aviv regime has also hit Israelis deep in their pockets with raised taxes and slashed benefits.

Discontented Israelis almost regularly take to the streets in Tel Aviv and other cities to protest against the regime’s economic plans and the painful austerity measures, which would raise income and value-added taxes and cut welfare benefits.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Israel grapples with a high poverty rate.

On July 14, thousands of Israelis took to the streets to protest against Tel Aviv’s austerity measures and to demand social justice.

In July 2012, the 57-year-old Silman poured gasoline over his body and set fire to himself during a demonstration held to mark the first anniversary of the social-justice protests that swept Israel in 2011. He died of his injuries a few days later.

NTJ/HH