The spiralling inflation that had plagued the economy led to the resignation of the finance minister, Yigal Hurwitz, who wished to delay a rise in teachers’ salaries until April 1982. Hurwitz, the leader of the eight-member La’am faction of the Likud, had followed a free market policy of cuts in government subsidies while promulgating a period of austerity. Within days of his resignation, El Al employees staged a national strike amidst widespread labour disputes. Moreover, three La’am members simultaneously left the government coalition and thereby the prospect of early elections loomed. While Begin’s coalition appeared to be crumbling, the NRP opposed early elections because one of its representatives, the religious affairs minister Aharon Abuhatzeira, had been charged with taking bribes, while another, Yosef Burg, had been accused of blocking an investigation into financial irregularities in the Ministry of the Interior.