The industrial action by employees at the Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) flagship division Teva Tech is now past two weeks. This is no trivial matter, given that the employees at the Israeli drug giant have never taken any real industrial action before.
In April, "Globes" published a survey by placement agency Jobinfo Group, which revealed that Teva is actually one of the most sought after companies by high-tech employees. Something about the company's stability, employment conditions, and the fact that it has a market cap of $35 billion, appealed to young high-tech professionals who apparently fear that another bubble is about to explode. So how is it that Teva's own employees are unhappy with their conditions?
"It's true that we get money to pay for university for our children, but the average age here is 30," explains Teva Tech employees committee chairman Benny Kimche. "People here have only just graduated, they don't need money for their children's university studies; they need a normal salary to pay mortgages and day care nurseries for the children." Kimche's statement reflect the general feeling at Teva - with all due respect for conditions, we'd rather be paid more.
So how much do employees at Teva Tech actually earn? The base salary, on which pension entitlement is calculated, is indeed low. According to Teva management, the average gross salary of a plant worker is NIS 4,980 a month, but the employees claim it is far lower. Only when overtime, shift work, car allowances, bonuses and the annual bonus salary are added does the salary reach NIS 10,000. However, "Globes" has obtained a wage slip which reveals that a production worker earned a base salary of NIS 4,000 in May, and NIS 6,600 together with the various extras. A chemist with a bachelor's degree also earns a fairly low base salary - NIS 5,500. The Teva management acknowledges that there are employees at the plant whose salaries really are low, and claim that they intend to give them pay rises.
Teva may, perhaps, be content with the disparity between the workers' representatives at its various plants, but this means the unrest they could face will merely be more widespread. Evidence of this can be seen at the Kfar Saba, which could be the next of the company's plants to see unrest when the current labor agreement expires in the near future.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 6, 2008
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