Adv. Shlomo Nass, trustee of troubled agricultural exports company Agrexco, has requested approval from the Tel Aviv District Court to send some workers on unpaid leave, and to fire others.

"This request is urgently submitted following a lack of cooperation between the trustee and the workers, and their efforts to bypass the agreements that have been formed between them and the trustee, which has burdened the company and led to a significant deficit in operations," Nass wrote in his request.

Judge Varda Alshech issued to freeze Agrexco a stay of proceedings until July 20, as a result of huge debts the company has accrued.

In his request to the court, Nass described the workers' stubbornness: "From the moment he was appointed, the trustee has met with a lack of cooperation from the workers in various areas, which has made it very difficult for the company to function properly. The workers were even given a letter citing a number of examples illustrating this lack of cooperation on their part."

Nass presented the workers committee a list of employees that he would like to fire in order to cut company costs. In the meantime, he suggested sending on unpaid leave for two weeks workers "who are not needed to run the company at the current volume of activity".

Nass claims that the workers are trying to delay the verdict, but warns that "every day this is delayed, the (company's) deficit grows."

Cynical abuse of workers

Agrexco workers committee head Shaul Tzivoni said in response: "The State of Israel is once again cynically abusing workers. After Agrexco employees were the first to contribute part of the NIS 2 million for the benefit of the operating period, the trustee says that 200 workers will not receive their salary in July, though they just gave up two weeks of salary, and now he is asking for a another two weeks worth. It is also interesting that the trustee is keeping the outgoing CEO on as a special consultant.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 17, 2011

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