Chemical firm says hundreds will lose jobs unless compensated over ammonia tank
With April 1 deadline approaching, Haifa Group demands government shoulder costs of relocating its storage facility
Tamar Pileggi is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.

The Haifa chemical company ordered to shutter its ammonia storage tank in the city over public health concerns has threatened to fire hundreds of workers unless the government intervenes on their behalf.
Management of the Haifa Group, the chemical company that operates the tank, is demanding government funds to offset a potentially costly move to relocate the storage facility to the Negev desert, or an extension of the court’s April 1 deadline.
The Haifa Group warned that a District Court’s order March 1 to close the facility could be the end of the company, and in a Tuesday staff meeting, management placed the blame squarely on the government.
“Unfortunately, if we continue to drag our feet without finding a solution, then we’ll be forced to close the plant, and it wouldn’t be us, its the government,” the company CEO Nadav Shachar said at a staff meeting, according to Channel 2.
“If we don’t stay united, this company will collapse very quickly,” he reportedly said, but urged workers to hold off on searching for alternative employment.
Haifa District Court ordered the company’s ammonia tank in Haifa emptied by April 1, citing fears that damage to the facility could endanger the lives of tens of thousands in and around Israel’s third largest city.
In the coming days, the Haifa Group is expected to lay off 900 workers. The remaining 2,000 workers are also fearful for their jobs.
“Without the ammonia, there’s no reason to have a plant here. So I ask of you to consider the 2,000 families,” factory worker Michael Kadosh said in an appeal to government officials in an interview with Channel 2. “Two thousand families that will be dragged down into the welfare system, so I beg of you, you are the people who were elected to solve these problems for us.”
A statement from the Haifa Group this week said the company had stopped producing ammonia, and warned the country’s reserves of the chemical would be largely depleted by March 23.
Officials say that tens of thousands of people could die if the tank should rupture, or if a delivery ship is hit by a missile. Hezbollah has threatened to target the tank in any future conflict.
In the court’s March 1 ruling on the ammonia tank, Judge Tamar Sharon Netanel said the potential public health crisis in Haifa necessitated the facility’s closure.
Haifa Group had argued that emptying the ammonia storage tank would “eliminate the operations of whole industrial sectors” and deal a serious blow to the local economy.
Netanel noted the economic importance of the facility, but said the potential damage to Haifa residents outweighed company or industry interests.
She also also ruled that ammonia would not be allowed to be stored in the facility in the future.