Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) will start today to withdraw money from a deposit of NIS 600 million made for the benefit of IEC's workers to cover free electricity and other employee benefits. The company will use the money to buy fuel for generating electricity.
Yesterday evening, the National Labor Court gave the go ahead for the move, after refusing the petition by the workers committee for permission to appeal against the District Labor Court's decision to dismiss its objections to withdrawal of the money. The IEC board, under chairman Gen. (Res.) Yiftach Ron-Tal, decided on March 22 to withdraw the free electricity money.
The money is part of IEC's participation in the rescue plan formulated by the Ministry of Finance, designed to enable IEC to bridge the cash flow gap of NIS 6 billion arising from the need to purchase expensive fuel for generating electricity to replace the natural gas from Egypt that has ceased to flow.
The District Court ruled that IEC could withdraw the money, which was only deposited against the eventuality that instead of receiving free electricity from IEC, the company's employees might have to pay a private power company and be reimbursed by IEC.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 3, 2012
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