Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) chairman Avi Nissenkorn had harsh words to say about Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) today when speaking to "Globes" correspondent Amiram Barkat at the "Globes" Israel Business Conference in Jerusalem today.
He said, "In my opinion this is a classic case of capitalist greed because we are talking about a company that received NIS 20 billion from the State of Israel and that's a lot of money, and the claim that the employees pay income tax and return it to the State is nonsense. The company is spitting in the face of the State. CEO Schultz came to see the prime minister and fobbed him off within an hour. So yes it is a private company but it has a commitment when it takes so much money from the State."
On the tax benefits that Teva received, Nissenkorn said, "You have to create a linkage between tax benefits and the commitment to employ people in Israel. When you ingratiate yourself and beg that they will stay in the country and don't make any connection between the benefits that you are giving and staying in the country in the future, and when the fateful moment arrives they don't take any notice of you. Teva is a case of a genuine failure of Israel's tax policies. It took from us and one day left in a brutal way. It's just as well that the workers are unionized because we have achieved good severance terms for them. But there was tough behavior here. The company's management completely failed, the board of directors voted to close down a large part of the operations in Israel - and those directors have names and faces and did not pay the price or take responsibility for this situation."
He continued, "The State must learn a lesson from this. If the State continues to give tax breaks to a company like Teva, it is absurd. Teva is carry out a closing down sale and perhaps in Israel more than around the world. And what is regrettable, we see the economic policies on taxation, and we don't see that the State wants to learn from this."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 10, 2018
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