A confrontation has erupted between the management and workers committee of Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI; LSE:80OA) over management's streamlining plan, now being formulated. After a meeting between management and the workers committee, under chairman Charlie Amsaleg, last week, the workers committee announced, "We oppose the restructuring at the bank and reject the streamlining document written by the bank's management."
The changes concern the bank's new organization structure and employee mobility following the establishment of a back office center in Beit Dagan, the institution of the bank's Lean Banking, and the extended opening hours of certain branches as part of Hapoalim Express format.
Bank Hapoalim said in response, "Management and the workers committee are in talks regarding the strategic processes in the work plan for the next three years, including streamlining measures. Management updates the workers committee's representatives and meets them in order hold an open dialogue, in view of the difficult and complex global economic situation and in Israel."
Bank Hapoalim chairman Dan Dankner has stated that layoffs are not on the agenda.
Last week, in Bank Hapoalim's internal newspaper, president and CEO Zvi Ziv said that the bank would implement an aggressive streamlining plan in 2009. "2009 will be a very tough year in terms of the bank's revenue. There is a need for streamlining and cost-cutting. Savings and streamlining are not a one-time exertion, but a way of life. We must be careful and calculating over every shekel we spend, and we must pare all unnecessary fat."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 26, 2009
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