The Union of Clerical, Administrative and Public Service Employees (UCAPSE) today asked the Tel Aviv District Labor Court to suspend the Bank Hapoalim lay-off agreement, and declare it null and void. The UCAPSE alleged that the parties to the agreement had acted in bad faith, lacked authorization, and violated the Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) constitution for workers at its institutions.
The Histadrut asked the court for a declaratory remedy ruling that Bank Hapoalim must negotiate in good faith in an acceptable manner, and that the bank workers committee had lacked authority to sign the agreement, without bringing the agreement for discussion and approval by the Bank Hapoalim workers’ national council.
The Histadrut also asked the court to rule the agreement invalid, since it violated public policy by discriminating between groups of workers, and also failed to meet the workers committee’s fair representation obligation to the Bank Hapoalim workers.
In its petition, the Histadrut asserted that Bank Hapoalim management selected selections from the Histadrut constitution, while ignoring others, particularly Section 13, which states that Histadurt guidelines must be sought in cases of lay-offs that are part of general cutbacks. The Histadrut claimed that management ignored the constitution, although the bank made a NIS 1 billion profit, added that Bank Hapoalim controlling shareholder Shari Arison-Dorsman herself had said the risk of a crisis was 2-3 years in the future, not immediate.
Bank Hapoalim said today that Tel Aviv District Labor Court Judge Alia Fogel had rejected the Histadrut petition for an injunction against the lay-off agreement, and had set a hearing for 3 PM, Sunday, December 29, in the presence of both parties. The judge asked Bank Hapoalim to respond by 10 AM on the day of the hearing.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on December 26, 2002