The Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) today filed motions with the court for an injunction against the laying off of 250 employees at IDB Holding Corp. Ltd. (TASE:IDBH) unit Hadera Paper Ltd. (TASE: AIP; Pink Sheets: HAIPF). It also motioned for an injunction against management's shutdown of the factory. The motions were filed in response to the company's announcement on Sunday that it was firing hundreds of tenured and untenured employees.
Hadera Paper's management says that it does not want to fire employees, but to temporarily cut the salaries of tenured employees by 5%, abolish the automatic annual 4.5% pay hike, and temporarily cancel the annual bonus of one month's salary, because of the company's NIS 61 million loss in the third quarter, and steady drop in global paper use. Management says that the workers committee insists on keeping the benefits, despite the company's difficult situation, forcing management to institute layoffs.
In an effort to prevent the layoffs, Histadrut Trade Union Division chairman Avi Nissenkoren has summoned Hadera Paper executives for a meeting today, including CEO Ofer Bloch, as well as workers committee chairman Adi Hananov, and National Printer's Union chairman Daviv Galanos.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 2, 2013
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