Clal Insurance labor sanctions escalate

Izzy Cohen
Izzy Cohen

Months of negotiations between the unionized workers and management were fruitless.

The sanctions at Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd. (TASE: CLIS), managed by CEO Izzy Cohen, are escalating. The Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel), under whose auspices the Clal Insurance workers are organized, today announced, "4,000 workers of the Clal group began a historic general strike in the insurance sector today, following the refusal of management to move ahead with negotiations on a new collective agreement." Even before the latest measures, Clal Insurance notified the TASE late last week, "At this stage, the company cannot assess the effects of these measures, insofar as they are taken."

The Histadrut also said today, "In the framework of the strike, there will be no office hours for the public at any of Clal Insurance's branches and offices around Israel. Calls are not being taken at customer service centers, service is not being provided to employers, reports, letters, and documents are not being sent to customers, and investment transactions involving members' money are not being conducted. In addition, agents will not be able to issue Clal Insurance policies, redemptions of pension money will not be possible, and policyholders with loss of earnings insurance will not receive payments."

Clal Insurance workers committee chairman Roni Erez said today, "Clal Insurance workers are no longer willing to sit idly. We tried, and were willing to conduct businesslike negotiations in order to solve all the existing disputes, but to no avail." Clal Insurance said in response, "The company's management, workers excluded from the collective agreement, and workers involved in essential and urgent activity, came to work today, and are providing partial service, subject to the limitations of the strike - among other things in long-term care, overseas travel, drugs, and operations. We emphasize that the investment division is working as usual. We call on the workers' committee to halt their aggressive measures and return to the negotiating table for the good of the company and its workers, agents, and customers."

In January 2014, Clal Insurance, Clal Pension and Provident, Clal Credit Insurance, Clalbit Systems, and Clal Finance signed a collective agreement with the Histadrut and the group's workers' committee. In December 2015, an appendix to the collective agreement with Clal Insurance was signed applying the provisions of the collective agreement to some of the workers at Canaf Clal Finance Management, the group's investment management arm, "except for managers of the stipulated grade and workers in specific jobs listed."

The existing collective agreement in the group is until the end of 2016, and the parties agreed that there would be no work disruptions until March 31, 2017, while, "the parties were negotiating for a renewal of the collective agreement." The company reports for 2016 state, "On December 13, 2016, the Histadrut notified Clal Insurance and other companies in the group of a labor dispute," and the group's unionized workers have since conducted "organizational measures."

Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on March 26, 2017

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2017

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