The Histadrut’s Transportation Workers’ Union sent a harsh letter on Thursday to the Haifa Port Company President Sumit Chauhan and to the company’s board of directors. This followed reports that the owners intend to withdraw about 1 billion shekels ($300 million) from the company’s funds and to give up the port’s flagship project.
“We will go with this to the end. The port will stand,” Nir Eisenberg, Deputy Chairman of the Transportation Workers’ Union in the Histadrut, told Davar.
According to the Histadrut, the owners’ move contradicts the terms of the international tender and the privatization process that was agreed upon and is expected to harm the interests of the port and its workers. “It is inconceivable to us that such a short time after the completion of the privatization process—when the ink on the agreements has not yet dried—such actions are already being carried out by you, which are in complete contradiction to the spirit of the tender and the agreement,” the union wrote.
The union went on to state that such a move contradicts the clear directive to maintain a stable cash reserve over time, and endangers the company’s stability, especially in light of the departure of some of the port’s customers, and that this constitutes direct harm to the job security of the workers—which was explicitly guaranteed as part of the privatization agreements.
“We will demand a board of directors that will act in favor of the company and its workers and not in favor of external interests. We will stand as a fortified wall against any attempt to change the agreements that led to the privatization of the port,” the union wrote, alongside a demand that the move to withdraw funds and give up the project be stopped immediately.
The letter ended with a description of the move as a “serious breach of trust.” “We will consider all necessary measures, both organizational and legal, in order to protect the workers’ rights and the company’s stable future,” the union wrote. “We demand that you immediately freeze the move and halt all your progress on the matter with representatives of the state, Israel Ports Company, and the lending bank until a joint discussion is held at the beginning of next week.”