Yedioth Ahronoth Group is preparing to lay off employees after failing to reach its early retirement target in the second phase of its cutbacks. The agreement between management and the union representatives called for the early retirement of 40 employees instead of their termination.
But before the Passover holiday, only 30 agreed to the arrangement, with only a few of them veteran employees. Once the final list of names is compiled, management has the option of vetoing the early retirement of 10% of the employees on the list effectively refusing their choice.
The second phase of early retirements at Yedioth Ahronoth is part of the wider process of integrating the media group’s various assets under one roof in Rishon LeZion and eliminating redundancy.
The plan called for the termination of 60 employees. Under the arrangement reached with the union which is represented by the journalist union employees were given incentives to retire early. In the first phase, which ended July 2015, 18 employees agreed to the arrangement out of a target of 20. Others were terminated.
The early retirement option was offered to employees of “Yedioth Ahronoth”, “Calcalist”, “LaIsha”, and xnet who are all represented by the same union. Workers in other sections of the media group, including Yedioth Ahronoth’s website ynet, were not offered the incentivized terms.
The agreement reached with the union set a graduated scale for a special grant in addition to the retirement compensation and other benefits provided, which is calculated based on their seniority and age.
A 35-year-old employee who worked at the newspaper for ten years will receive a grant worth two additional monthly salaries; a 40-year-old who worked at the paper for 15 years will receive 2.5 salaries; and a 60-year-old employee with 30 years at the paper will receive severance of 26 months.
The union reassured employees that, regardless of seniority or age, they would receive a payout of at least one and a half monthly salaries. Meanwhile, management and the Yedioth Ahronoth union are mired in a workplace dispute over deteriorating conditions because of the move from Tel Aviv to Rishon LeZion.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 2, 2016
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