The Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) is threatening to declare a labor dispute at Jerusalem's Bikur Holim Hospital, which is owned by Arcadi Gaydamak. The union is protesting management's streamlining plan, which includes 70 layoffs and an average pay cut of 20% for remaining employees.
Gaydamak stopped injecting capital into the hospital since the outbreak of the economic crisis. The hospital has developed an operating deficit, after a fairly long period in which it broke even.
The NPO that Gaydamak set up to run Bikur Holim Hospital, headed by Rabbi David Zilbershlag, is without a sponsor and with assets to use as collateral for a bank loan.
Bikur Holim Hospital's management already cut employees' February salaries by 15% and suspended employer's allocations for advanced training funds. It now wants to lay off staff, which the Histadrut refuses to accept, on the grounds that the hospital's management will not promise no future layoffs.
Histadrut Trade Union Division legal counsel Shay Teken said, "This plan is like a bank on the backs of the workers. Management is trying to solve its financing problems by directly and severely harming the workers."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 30, 2009
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