Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) chairman Avi Nissenkorn took part today in a demonstration by Israel Chemicals (TASE: ICL: NYSE: ICL) workers, together with Dimona Mayor Benny Biton, Arad Mayor Tali Ploskov, Neot Hovav Council Head Andre Uzan, and other mayors.
In the demonstration, held in front of the Israel Chemicals headquarters in Beersheva, Nissenkorn told the workers, who are protesting 140 layoffs at the group's Bromine Compounds subsidiary, "You are fighting for your lives, honor, livelihood, and homes. Sending 140 people home is only the beginning, and it means adding 140 families in the south to the poverty cycle."
Nissenkorn added, "A lot of people would be glad if this struggle vanished from public discourse, because they have to deal with it. We're giving notice, though: this struggle won't go away until we solve it. 140 people today at Bromine Compounds, tomorrow 200 people at Dead Sea Works, then it will be another round at Rotem Amfert Negev, and then another round at Dead Sea Magnesium, followed by another few hundred workers in the group. This is one of the few places in the south that creates work, and there aren't any other workplaces to take its place."
According to Nissenkorn, "Israel Chemicals management earned NIS 3 billion in 2014, but a worker aged 45-50 who lives in Dimona and makes his living there will go home and have to tell his family, 'Our livelihood is gone. I don't know what hobbies I can afford for my kid next year, I don't know how I'll earn a living, we'll have to spend less and eat less.' He's a good worker, but he's in the way of making a NIS 3.5 billion profit. Where's the justification? There isn't any. We'll triumph because your struggle is just."
"I've been through a lot of struggles, and no one can win against a large community of determined and righteous workers. On Wednesday, if the matter isn't solved, unfortunately, Dead Sea Works will go on strike, and we'll bring the south to the center. We'll create a situation in which every Israeli will look at you and ask, 'Why is Naftali Ben Haroush, who earns NIS 7,800 a month, being sent home from a group that earns NIS 3 billion? Why?' If there's no answer, then Naftali should stay at work.
"I'm saying this now when some of the mayors in the south are by my side, with their agreement and support, besides the Histradrut chairman," Nissenkorn continued. "We'll close the south down, city by city, every day a different city, until the matter is solved. The issues of employment in the south and saving the south are no less important than any issue on the agenda today. It has to be the top priority. Not just in the headlines that are gone in two hours, but until it's solved. I promise you: We'll go on and on, and we won't let up until we solve this problem."
Israel Chemicals said in response, "The only question on the agenda right now is whether management of the plant is entitled to put workers on early retirement and to lay off workers in order to cut costs at a factory that lost NIS 160 million in 2014 and NIS 1.5 billion in recent years, and that is in a serious crisis, even though over NIS 2 billion has been invested in it over the past decade."
"There is no doubt about the duty and responsibility we have to make this plant recover for the sake of its future existence and the future employment of most of the workers in it, even if this makes it necessary to fire workers during a crisis. We are convinced that no one expects us to disavow our responsibility and duty, including by law, to make this factory recover. Anyone who supports the position of the workers committee and the Histradrut in effect accepts the idea that layoffs are unacceptable even in a money-losing enterprise. The workers committee, which broke up the negotiations even before it was known that there would be early elections, is fighting to deny management the ability and authority to manage the factory, and to institute an essential streamlining program. It is taking advantage of the election campaign for this purpose. We promise that Israel Chemicals will continue to act with professionalism, seriousness, and responsibility."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 16, 2015
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