Tnuva workers to declare labor dispute

Workers committee: It seems that Tnuva's owners and board of directors are unimpressed by the employees' responsibility during the social protest.

8 February 12 13:08, Inbal Omer

Tnuva Food Industries Ltd. employees will today ask the Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) to declare a labor dispute at the company, after negotiations on a new labor contract collapsed yesterday. The employees can declare a strike after a two-week cooling off period from the date a labor dispute is declared.

Tnuva's workers committee said, "It seems that Tnuva's owners and board of directors are unimpressed by the employees' responsibility during the social protest."

The workers committee said that the labor contract expired during the cottage cheese crisis and social protest last summer. "The Tnuva workers committee, out of sense of responsibility and partnership, decided to keep industrial quiet and avoided renewing negotiations on a salary contract, because it understood the importance of restraint for the company's continued functioning, in order to help it get through the unprecedented crisis with its customers, and to withstand the consumer boycott."

The workers committee added that Tnuva's chairman ordered talks to be held for crumbs, while deliberately ignoring the company's profits, which are entirely attributable to the employees' hard work and restraint from cynically manipulating the consumer boycott, even as the shareholders' pockets were bulging after getting a full return on their investment.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 8, 2012

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2012