Haifa Chemicals closes two plants, lays off 800

Haifa Bay Ammonia tank Photo: Eran Gilvarg
Haifa Bay Ammonia tank Photo: Eran Gilvarg

Haifa Chemicals controlling shareholder Jules Trump: We need an alternative to the ammonia plant so that we can continue operations.

The management of Haifa Chemicals today formally notified the workers committee that its factory in the north is being closed. The company has also decided to close its factory in the south, laying off 800 employees at both plants.

According to a letter sent to employees, they will be summoned to hearings in the coming days. Management claims it has been paying employees for the past four and a half months since the closure of the ammonia plant in March, even though there has been no production at the plants. Over this period, management said, the company has lost NIS 100 million - about NIS 1 million per day.

Haifa Chemicals controlling shareholder Jules Trump told Army Radio, "We need an alternative to the ammonia plant so that we can continue operations. The cabinet approved two alternatives but neither of them is going ahead."

He wrote to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "We've lost hundreds of millions of shekels based on government promises of a solution for the ammonia crisis but there is no solution on the horizon. Spin has beat industry, bureaucracy has beaten the economy and a local campaign by the mayor has beaten the national government."

Management met with the workers committee Monday afternoon and informed them that it was considering sending employees home until September 18, the last day for emptying ammonia according to the Supreme Court ruling last Thursday. This morning, Haifa Chemicals employees were told "The plant cannot continue in the current situation and it has been decided that all employees will be laid off and the plant closed.

Of Haifa Chemicals 700 employees in the north, 250 are subject to a collective agreement and will be more difficult to fire. The rest are contract workers with about 20 having personal contracts.

The employees plan coming to work out of protest. Workers Committee chairman Eli Elbaz said, "Only one body is responsible for the ammonia crisis - the company's management. The company continues to use employees as hostages in an attempt to make money. This is a scandalous response by management which persists in threatening employees."

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 2, 2017

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2017

Haifa Bay Ammonia tank Photo: Eran Gilvarg
Haifa Bay Ammonia tank Photo: Eran Gilvarg
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