Southern workers scrap planned strike over firings

Unionized workers in southern Israel canceled their plans to strike Thursday in protest of mass layoffs at an Israel Chemicals bromine plant, after reaching a temporary agreement with the company’s management.

During a closed National Labor Court hearing that lasted over two hours, ICL and Histadrut labor federation officials agreed to a number of terms that will prevent the strike from being carried out, Israeli news outlet TheMarker reported.

According to the agreement, the layoffs of 140 bromine plant employees will be temporarily called off, and plans to fire hundreds of Dead Sea Works factory workers will be frozen.

The sides will begin two weeks of negotiations, assisted by National Labor Court President Judge Yigal Plitman, after which they will update the court if they were able to reach understandings.

Employees at the bromine plant and at the Dead Sea factory, who have been striking for the past two weeks, will not return to work, but they will renew talks with the ICL’s management.

Earlier on Wednesday, Histadrut chairman Avi Nissenkorn had said they would go ahead with the strike plans, which had been set to shut down businesses from the port of Ashdod to the Red Sea resort town of Eilat.

Both private and public sector employees were going to call off services in solidarity with the fired ICL employees.

The court hearing came after heads of the Chamber of Commerce and Manufacturers Association of Israel petitioned for an injunction to prevent the strike, claiming in their request that “a local labor dispute must not immobilize an entire region.”

The Tourism Ministry issued a statement saying the strike could cripple tourism in Eilat, which is already suffering from a lack of Russian tourists forced to stay home by the weakening ruble.

“We recognize the importance of the struggle, but we call to avoid the shutdown of public transport and Eilat airport, which would represent another blow to the south in general and Eilat in particular,” Tourism Minister Uzi Landau said in a statement.

Ahead of the planned strike, ICL employees, joined by Histadrut members, gathered Wednesday outside the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem. Protesters waved signs claiming “Bibi is losing the south,” using Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s nickname, and “Unemployment in the south is the real threat.”

On Tuesday, ICL workers blocked roads in Tel Aviv and demonstrated outside the company’s headquarters.

“We refuse to accept the situation and facilitate the expansion of unemployment,” Nissenkorn told Channel 2 Wednesday.

Nissenkorn demanded the government use its “golden share” in the company, which grants it special voting rights in company’s decisions.

“The south’s struggle is a struggle of all Israeli citizens who refuse to give up on the county’s social character,” he said.

Another Histadrut official said the crisis in the south is the result of plans to advance unilateral cutbacks without offering any employment alternatives for southern residents.

According to Israel Chemicals, the bromine factory, located 12 kilometers south of Beersheba, has lost NIS 1.4 billion ($347 million) since 2007, contrary to politicians’ claims that the factory was profitable.