The Yedioth Ahronoth group will lay off 150 workers who worked distributing papers to businesses and marketing chains. Sources inform "Globes" that the group has decided to transfer its distribution system to its Bar Hafatza subsidiary, and will therefore terminate its employment of freelance workers. The workers asked the Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) for help, and are looking for ways to keep their jobs. Sources in the group said an additional wave of cutbacks among the group's administrative employees was likely.
The workers, most of whom are over 40, and some of whom have worked for Yedioth Ahronoth for several decades, were owners of trucks or commercial vehicles used to distribute the newspaper, and worked mostly at night. During the High Holy Days, they received letters notifying them that they would be laid off in the near future because distribution was being transferred to Bar Hafatza, which distributes the print edition to the paper's subscribers.
Upon receiving the notices, the workers got together and submitted a counterbid to the costs proposed by Bar Hafatza, in which they agreed to a substantial cut in their remuneration, according to one of the workers who spoke with "Globes." The newspaper nevertheless stuck to its decision, and announced that it would begin gradually discharging the employees at the beginning of next year. Eventually, by March 2015, 90% of the workers will lose their jobs. "Given the fact that we are freelance workers," one of the workers told "Globes," "we're afraid that we'll get no compensation, and will have to sue them. We want to work, and above all hope that a solution will be found." No response to the report was available from Yedioth Ahronoth.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 26, 2014
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