unit Dead Sea Works have decided to begin an all-out strike after management did not respond to demands by the Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) and workers committee to remove the threat of layoffs for hundreds of employees. The strike is also in solidarity with 140 planned layoffs at sister Israel Chemical company Bromine Compounds.
Strikes have also begun at Bromine Compounds and the power station in Sedom protesting the hundreds of planned layoffs at Israel Chemicals.
Dead Sea Works workers committee chairman Armand Lankri said, "We are prepared to fight at any price for against the management's demands. It is due to the hard work and dedication of its employees that Israel Chemicals has succeeded and is profitable, and management's intention of harming employees and firing them is absurd, aggressive, and above all unnecessary. I call on management to cancel the layoffs and begin talking with us."
Israel Chemical Israel general manager Avner Maimon said, "Striking the bromine factory in Sedom is an extreme step that sacrifices the 400 employees of Dead Sea Magnesium on the altar of this extremist and violent struggle of the Bromine Compounds workers assisted by chairman of the Dead Sea Works workers committee Armand Lankri. Closing the bromine factory may lead to irreversible damage within 72 hours that will result in closure of the Dead Sea Magnesium plant and to safety and ecological dangers. Thus Dead Sea Works management has urgently turned to the Labor Court to prevent the grave risk of this dangerous step by the chairman of the workers committee of the Dead Sea Works."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 19, 2015
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2015