The postal crisis is due to end after weeks of strikes, Channel 2 reports Tuesday, and a final agreement between the Finance Ministry and the Postal Workers’ Union is due to be announced at a 1 p.m. press conference. 

Early details about the agreement indicate that the number of days workers will be sent on rounds will be reduced to two and a half per every two weeks, and that thousands of employees will gain tenure. 

The announcement surfaces after weeks of chaos at Israel Post, which stopped mail intake, ceased court transcriptions and transfer of state documents, and refused to accept mail from abroad as negotiations languished. 

Protests first erupted after Israel Postal Service management announced that 1,500 people would be dismissed and that contract workers would be hired in their place. 

Outrage over the move – which angered long-suffering postal service employees – prompted widespread support from the Histadrut, Israel’s labor union, and sparked “solidarity strikes” in courts, airports, and other public places. 

“The Histadrut protests the contract workers phenomenon and the ‘revolving door’ the state is adopting by perpetuating harmful business structures,” a statement from the organization declared earlier this week.

“In solidarity with the postal workers crisis, the striking workers are opposing business formats that aim to harm workers and erode their status. “

The Israeli Postal Service has faced major budgetary setbacks for several months.

Last December, the government announced that up to 2,000 workers would be dismissed as part of a large-scale cost-cutting operation, sparking additional strikes in early 2014. 

With the increased popularity of e-mail and electronic money transfers, and competition from private parcel and overnight letter companies, the post office’s prospects for growth are slim, government officials believe.

But postal strikes and cutbacks affect Israelis more than just in their mail; the offices also operate as banks, document ratification and transfer centers, and bill-paying offices for a plethora of basic services.