The negotiations between Israel Chemicals (TASE: ICL: NYSE: ICL) management and representatives of the workers at the Bromine Compounds unit and Dead Sea Works broke down this afternoon. Workers committee chairman Avner Ben-Senior said, “The talks failed the moment the management insisted on group layoffs. If they had spoken with us about firing individual workers who are not good, or workers with infractions - we would not have objected. As far as Israel Chemicals is concerned, this is a principle that it is not willing to give up on, and there is therefore no point in continuing the talks.”
The talks began yesterday morning, mediated by Minister of the Development of the Negev and Galilee Silvan Shalom. Israel Chemicals is represented in the talks by Israel Chemicals IL CEO Avner Maimon, and HR head Ehud Nitzan. The Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) is represented by Histadrut Negev District chairman Meir Babioff. The workers are represented by Ben-Senior and Dead Sea Works workers’ committee chairman Armand Lankri.
The workers’ committee said today that the protest is expected to expand, alongside the continued strikes at the southern plants: “On Friday, we will set up a protest tent in front of the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem, and we will hold Shabbat services there. We will all call upon Netanyahu to act and to exercise its golden share in a manner that will prevent Israel Chemicals from laying off its workers in the south. On Sunday, the letters of termination, which have already been sent to some of the workers, go into effect, and then, we will complete our struggle,” Ben-Senior told “Globes.”
The Histadrut said in response to the collapse of talks, “It is up to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is serving also as Minister of Finance, to exercise the state’s golden share in Israel Chemicals immediately. It is unacceptable that a company that earned NIS 3 billion net profit in 2014 from its use of Israel’s natural resources should treat its loyal workers in such a manner.”
Israel Chemicals said, "We were surprised to learn from the media that the workers committee has again broken up the talks and chosen a unilateral way of forcing its demands instead of reaching a solution through negotiations and dialogue. The workers committee entered talks as part of a misleading game and they have left after the show ended. The workers committee decision harms all the company's employees who are forced to sit unpaid at home and mainly mean that the first of the workers retiring may find themselves from Sunday without the voluntary retirement package that management offered, which is their safety net, and ensures a regular income double the average salary in Israel's economy."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 4, 2015
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