Israeli Orange franchisee Partner Communications Ltd. (Nasdaq: PTNR; TASE: PTNR) and the Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) have agreed on a voluntary retirement plan at the company. 200-300 workers are expected to retire under the plan. Partner notified the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) that it would make a NIS 35 million one-time provision for the plan in the third quarter of 2015. The final cost of the retirement plan will be determined by the number of employees who actually retire, and by their composition.
The voluntary retirement plan is part of the ongoing negotiations between the parties for a collective agreement that will both establish the workers' rights and enable the company to continue reducing its workforce, in view of the dire situation in the cellular market.
The negotiations for a collective work agreement have been going on for many months. The parties first reached agreement on the workers' rights in the joint network to be built in the framework of a new venture, and are now negotiating an agreement for Partner itself.
The voluntary retirement agreement is naturally limited and coordinated with the Histadrut, and many workers are therefore expected to join it. Both Pelephone Communications Ltd. and Cellcom Israel Ltd. (NYSE:CEL; TASE:CEL) have also signed voluntary retirement agreements with the workers' representatives, and it is now Partner's turn.
Under the agreement, a Partner worker with three years or more seniority at the company, except for service and sales employees, can submit a request to management for inclusion in the plan, and the decision will be made in accordance with the company's needs.
The general outline for the plan includes improved terms and an attractive basket of benefits, and the number of places in the plan is limited. For two and a half weeks starting today, workers who fulfill the conditions can submit early retirement requests.
Partner's CEO is Isaac Benbenisti.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 19, 2015
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