Last week, workers at CTS, the Israeli pharmaceutical and consumer health care product company, declared their intent to unionize within the Histadrut in an attempt to protect their rights, improve their working conditions, and increase their job security. The Histadrut reached out to CTS CEO Iftach Seri, calling on him to enter into negotiations with the workers and form a collective agreement.
CTS was founded in Israel in 1921 and has been operating internationally since the 1980s. The company develops, produces, and markets products in the fields of health, nutrition, personal grooming, and agriculture. In the field of medicine, CTS supplies medicine, nutritional supplements, and innovative genetic tests for personalized medicine.
About two years ago, the Fortissimo Capital private equity fund acquired control of CTS for about 150 million shekels ($40 million). The company runs three factories focused on development and production, two of which are located in Kiryat Malachi.
The process of forming a union was advised by the unionizing team of the Histadrut in Ashdod and the coordinators of the Histadrut unionizing division.
“We are excited about unionizing within the Histadrut and starting a new path together,” Lior Elul, one of the leaders of the CTS staff action committee, said. “We are all united, goal oriented, and together we will act to improve our future while ensuring the future of the company.”
Amichai Stinger, head of the Histadrut unionizing division, expressed his support. “We are proud of the CTS workers who chose to join the home of workers in Israel,” he said. “Together we’ll act to improve their future and their job security.”
Haim Shaib, the Ashdod district chair for the Histadrut, commended his team for their involvement in forming the new union. “Congratulations to all the staff who continue the central mission of the Histadrut—strengthening workers by realizing their right to organize,” he said. “Welcome to those who are newly joining under our umbrella of defense. We will do everything so that the collective agreement in the company will reflect the valuable contribution of the workers to CTS’s success.”
This article was translated from Hebrew by Leah Schwartz.
