A labor dispute has been declared at Partner Communications, one of Israel’s largest communications companies, following allegations of one-sided decision making by management, retaliation against union leadership, and delaying negotiations for a new collective agreement.
“Specifically during a time when Partner is making good money and management is benefiting from the highest salaries in the market, Partner is choosing to drag its feet, hurt its workers, and not move forward with the new collective agreement,” Partner workers union head Keren Ofek said. “We want to remind management that Partner workers are a united and cohesive force, and as we’ve proven before, we won’t be stopped from receiving all the benefits and workers rights that we deserve.”
The company’s 2,500 workers are demanding that management sign the new collective agreement, which they say will benefit the company as well as the workers.
Yaki Halutzi, chair of the Histadrut’s union for cellular, internet, and high tech workers, informed Partner CEO Avi Gabbay of the labor dispute on Wednesday.
Complaints listed in the dispute include management making organizational and structural changes to the company without involving workers or taking into account the effect on workers rights and management going back on its word regarding agreements about implications of a partnership between Partner and Yes, an Israeli satellite television company. Workers also accused the management of making unilateral decisions that negatively impacted their earnings, including their pensions.
According to an additional complaint in the labor dispute, Partner management has taken retaliatory action against the union, including slandering and threatening the union head and attempting to fire another elected member of the union.
“Working relations at Partner have reached a low without a path forward,” Halutzi said. “I am calling on the company to take action to rebuild trust, for the benefit of the company as well as its workers.”
As of the time of publication, Partner management has not responded to the declaration of a labor dispute.
This article was translated from Hebrew by Leah Schwartz.
