The Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) has approved a labor dispute at Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.’s (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) Teva Tech facility in Ramat Hovav, the flagship of the company’s chemicals division. This is the first labor dispute ever declared at the company’s 11 plants.
The declaration allows Teva Tech’s 700 workers to launch labor sanctions in 14 days. The workers are planning a meeting for later this week.
For the past six months, Teva Tech’s employees have negotiating with the plant’s management for a new labor contract, including a large pay hike. The workers claim that their salaries are lower than salaries paid at Teva’s plants in central and northern Israel, and they want the same terms. Teva’s management says that agreement has already been reached on this point.
Histadrut Negev District chairman Meir Babioff said that Teva’s workers are not only demanding the same terms as those received by the company’s workers in central and northern Israel, but also want the same terms as those received by workers at chemicals plans in the Negev, such as IDB Holding Corp. Ltd. (TASE:IDBH) subsidiary Makhteshim Agan Industries Ltd. (TASE: MAIN) and Israel Corp. (TASE: ILCO) subsidiary Israel Chemicals Ltd. (TASE: CHIM).
Babioff told “Globes” today, “The plant’s workers met with the workers of other plants in the Negev in the local basketball and football leagues, and discovered that they earned thousands of shekels less than their peers. This hurts. The company’s management has named Teva Tech as its flagship plant, and increases its staff by 100 employees a year. This must be reflected in the workers’ terms.”
Teva’s management said that Teva Tech’s workers committee, headed by Benny Kimhi, is also demanding workers’ participation in the plant’s management, especially in the areas of salaries and social conditions.
“Soon, they’ll say that we want to appoint the CEO,” said Babioff, denying the charge. “All the workers want is to be full partners in the plant’s labor relations. Teva is proud of its history of good labor relations, but they’re treating the workers committee as an ornament.”
Teva’s management said in response that the company employed professional human resources personnel who were responsible for all welfare terms, including the provision of scholarships and other benefits for the workers, and that this was not the workers committee’s responsibility.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on February 12, 2007
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