ICL, unions in talks; strike still on – Alert
Israel Chemicals Ltd. management and unions have returned to the negotiating table. Talks resumed on Tuesday. However, the workers are not ending their strike and are not returning to Dead Sea Works or Dead Sea Bromine Compounds. According to the understanding, the resumption of talks is without preconditions.
ICL said it was acceding to the request of Israel’s Energy and Water Minister Silvan Shalom to resume negotiations with the unions of the two subsidiaries. The strikes at the two plants and the wave of protests which began last month were sparked by management plans to lay off hundreds of workers. The strike at Dead Sea Bromine is entering its fifth week and Dead Sea Works has been shut down for ten days. Preliminary estimates put the damage from the strikes at tens of millions of dollars.
Energy and Water Minister Shalom held a series of talks on Sunday and Monday with the chairman of the Histadrut Labor Federation Avi Nissenkorn, the chairman of ICL and the workers representatives in order to get the talks resumed.