Shalon Chemical Industries Ltd. is set to fire 40 of its 250 employees at its gas masks factory in Kiryat Gat, because of the decision early this year by the political security cabinet to halt the distribution of gas masks to the general public, because of the sharply lower danger of gas attacks against civilian targets. The decision was made following the international understandings that led to the dismantling of a substantial part of Syria's chemical arsenal.
The IDF Home Front Command was responsible for the distribution of gas masks until Israel Postal Company Ltd. took over the responsibility in 2010. Distribution ended in February. People seeking to renew their gas masks cannot do so, and it is unclear whether the Home Front Command will continue its training programs at schools next year.
35-40% of the public have no gas masks. The estimated cost of distributing gas masks to them is NIS 300 million a year.
In the past few months, Israel's only two gas masks manufacturers, Shalon and Supergum Ltd. at the Barkan industrial park outside Ariel, have been converting their production lines from civilian models to gas masks used by the IDF and rescue forces.
Industry sources say that production of these gas masks is carried out by more sophisticated machinery than regular gas masks, and require fewer production line employees. Supergum has also thinned its ranks recently, in addition to the pending layoffs at Shalon.
A Shalon executive told "Globes" that dozens more employees might lose their jobs after the upcoming layoffs.
At the end of the year, the IDF is due to reassess its gas mask policy. Industry sources told "Globes" that the companies involved will try to maintain their basic production capacity through the end of the year, in order to resume gas masks production if the policy is changed. However, they doubt that the IDF will change its position, especially in view of its budget problems and statements by senior officers about the cancellation of training programs and reductions in procurements.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 1, 2014
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2014