Possible solution found to stave off Haifa Chemicals layoffs
Government examining options including trucking ammonia to southern plant directly from dock, avoiding plant closure
Haifa Chemicals on Thursday reportedly said it may have found a way to save the jobs of some of its employees, a day after announcing it would close two plants and lay off some 800 workers.
Sources said that the company, which operates two factories, agreed to resume work at its southern plant if small ships carrying ammonia are permitted to dock in either Ashdod or Haifa ports, and the ammonia sent overland to the plant, The Marker reported.
According to the report this solution could be implemented in a matter of weeks.
On Wednesday, in a strongly worded letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Haifa Chemicals owner Jules Trump said he had decided to shut down the operations of the fertilizer maker and let its 800 workers go after a compromise for the continued operations of the firm was not reached.
The move came after the government ordered the shut down the firm’s Haifa ammonia storage tank in Haifa Bay, in a struggle that pitted local residents concerned over the potential for a deadly chemical leak against those who say its closure would adversely affect the economy.
The Environment Ministry and Home Front Command are currently examining the option of shipping the ammonia overland, and all the parties have agreed to meet for mediation on Monday to find a solution, according to reports.
The government is also examining other solutions, and Trump said he would accept any alternative which would allow the rapid transfer of ammonia to its plants.
After the meeting, initiated by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and Environment Protection Minister Ze’ev Elkin, the sides concluded that there is a good chance the plant in the south will be able to begin work again, avoiding the threatened closure. However, it seems less likely that the Haifa plant will resume production.
Israel’s Histadrut labor union and the workers at the plant said they were trying to halt the layoffs.
Haifa Chemicals has been operating for over 50 years and consumes some 68 percent of Israel’s imported ammonia to produce specialty fertilizers at plants it runs in the north and the south of the country. The plants employ some 800 workers directly and some 4,500 indirectly, and are responsible for 2 percent of Israel’s industrial exports, according to data provided by the company.
The “tragic result” of the closure of the company, wrote Trump in his letter to Netanyahu, stems from the fact that for the past five months production has been halted, causing a loss of hundreds of millions of shekels as the workers were kept on in the hope and on the promise that the government would find a “reasonable” solution that would enable the company to continue its operations, he wrote.
“Now we learn that in spite of the unanimous government decision to find a solution for the ammonia crisis… the implementation of a solution is not on the horizon,” Trump wrote. “We are forced to close the company and fire its workers.”
Shoshanna Solomon contributed to this report.
