Histadrut: Teva ignoring potential Ashdod plant buyers

Teva Photo: Reuters Ammar Awad
Teva Photo: Reuters Ammar Awad

The Histadrut has demanded that Teva immediately suspend plans to close its Ashdod plant.

Less than a week after Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) announced the closure of its Ashdod plant, the Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) has sent a letter to the company's management threatening sanctions if the closure is not suspended by tomorrow. The letter says that, "Dozens of employees are being fired in extreme bad faith."

The Histadrut says that closing the plant contradicts the positions it presented when it said that it would put up the plant for sale as well as saying that it would maintain its main activities in Israel. The Histadrut said that it had referred potential buyers of the plant to Teva, which had ignored them. Sources have also informed "Globes" that potential buyers who have asked Teva for accounting data about the plant have not enjoyed cooperation.

Teva announced last week that because a buyer for the Ashdod plant had not been found, it would close the factory and lay off half of its 175 employees in the coming month and the remainder by March 2019. The closure is part of Teva's global streamlining plans in which 14,000 jobs are being shed worldwide including 1,750 in Israel.

Teva said, "For the past four months - since Teva published its reorganization plan designed to reduce costs and enable the company to service its debt - Teva has examined options for selling the Ashdod plant. Ultimately, Teva came to the conclusion that it is not financially feasible and therefore as part of its commitment to reflect a realistic and trustworthy picture to the employees' representatives and the Histadrut, the company announced that the plant would close in March 2019. At the same time, it is important to stress that until the plant has to close, the company will work to realize a possible sale including continuing contacts with relevant potential buyers."

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 16, 2018

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2018

Teva Photo: Reuters Ammar Awad
Teva Photo: Reuters Ammar Awad
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