Following the today’s drama at Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA; TASE: TEVA), with the departure of CEO Jeremy Levin due to disagreements with chairman Phillip Frost, Finance Minister Yair Lapid spoke to interim CEO Eyal Desheh, who will replace Levin until a permanent CEO is found.
Lapid expressed his concern to Desheh vis-a-vis the anticipated layoffs at Teva. During their conversation, Desheh promised Lapid that the understandings that were established between the previous CEO and the Finance Minister will remain unchanged. Likewise, it was agreed that there will be no delays in the ongoing discussions regarding the trapped profits.
Two weeks ago, Levin and Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) chairman Ofer Eini agreed that Teva workers in Israel would not be laid off until an agreement was reached with the Histadrut. Eini and Levin had already begun drafting documents outlining various arrangements to guarantee the agreements they had reached, as well as how decisions would be made in the case of a dispute. However, in the end, Teva management refused to sign a binding document and the Histadrut sufficed with a handshake between Levin and Eini.
On October 10, Teva announced its intention to lay off 5,000 employees, 10% of its global workforce, in order to save $2 billion by the end of 2017. The original plan set out a goal of saving $1.5-2 billion. Hundreds of the 7,500 Teva employees in Israel will be laid off as part of the corporate downsizing.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 30, 2013
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