Israeli department store chain New Hamashbir Lazarchan Ltd. (TASE:MSZB) is laying off 600 employees. This follows five layoffs and salary cuts at company headquarters in June.
The company is now reducing its workforce from 2,000 to 1,400. This includes 240 employees who have been on unpaid leave since the start of the Covid-19 crisis in March and 300 employees who have been on unpaid leave since the start of the second lockdown.
Hamashbir CEO and controlling shareholder Rami Shavit said, "This is not only a matter of layoffs. Some of the employees are not young and have preferred not to return to work because they fear coronavirus."
He added, "We came back to work yesterday and nobody knows when we will open. The winter is our most profitable season. We have been closed for nearly five months this year and there is no real support from the government. We've ordered goods for the winter and there was a lockdown and soon we will be ordering summer goods and they are talking about another lockdown."
Hamashbir is Israel's largest department store chain with 38 stores around the country.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on November 4, 2020
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