Work resumed on Thursday, February 4, at Elop, a subsidiary of Elbit Systems, following a three-day strike. Negotiations which continued into the night between representatives of the Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel), the workers’ committee, and Elop management resulted in an agreement that work at the plant in the Rehovot Science Park would resume immediately, and that the plant’s 1,300 workers would receive pay increments and a one-time bonus.
Under the agreement reached, the salary increment will be also paid retroactively for 2014 and 2015. In recent months, company employees complained that management was not negotiating a pay revision, despite past agreements signed between the parties. The agreement that was reached halted the strike at Elop, a developer and manufacturer of electro-optical systems for domestic and overseas defense markets, and led to the cancellation of a number of protests in solidarity with Elop workers that had been planned by the Histadrut for this coming Sunday in all of the Elbit Systems’ plants throughout Israel.
The Histadrut said that, in addition to the agreement on salary revisions, the parties would conduct intensive negotiations aimed at regularizing how workers are employed at the company. This follows allegations that workers were being moved by management to other tasks at Elbit Systems in order to weaken organized labor at Elop.
Elop workers demonstrating last Monday, February 1 (Photo: Hisradrut)
During the strike Elop workers sharply criticized the company’s management, and accused it of “dragging its feet” in implementing a collective labor agreement at the company. They pointed out that under, the existing agreement, representatives of the workers and management are supposed to conduct negotiations every two years on pay rises for the employees. Elop’s management had been ignoring this understanding and refused to talk to workers’ representatives on improved conditions.
Elbit Systems is currently pursuing the purchase of Israel Military Industries from the state, and is the sole bidder in the tender being held by the Government Companies Authority. Elbit Systems is controlled by Michael (Mickey) Federmann. In the third quarter of 2015, its sales totaled $2.2 billion.
