Hundreds of employees of privatized Israel Chemicals Ltd. (ICL) unit Dead Sea Works today launched on Monday labor sanctions to protest negotiations on a possible merger of Israel Chemicals with multi-national Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. The workers committee is accusing management of a lack of transparency about the merger talks with the Canadian company. There have been reports that Potash Corporation plans to submit an improved take-over offer for Israel Chemicals to the government within a month.

Dead Sea: The workers protest on Monday (Photo: Dead Sea Works Workers Committee)

Hundreds of workers blocked the entrance to the plant and 1,300 downed tools, according to an e-mailed statement from the workers committee at Dead Sea Works Ltd. Union leaders are considering extending the action to other plants, the statement shows.

“It is unacceptable that, on one hand, the government and Israel Chemicals deny that there are talks to merge with Potash Corp., while on the other hand, Potash Corp. announces that it will submit a new offer for such a merger – which means that there was a previous offer,” said Dead Sea Works workers committee chairman Armand Lankry. “We want honest and direct answers from our employers to know where things are headed, because at the moment, we’re in a situation of uncertainty.”

Lankry said that if the workers committee does not receive clarifications from Israel Chemicals’ management about the talks with Potash Corp., the protest would intensify. “We cannot rule out that, from tomorrow, we will intensify the protest and launch sanctions at other Israel Chemicals factories in the south. If these measures do not cause the company’s management to tell us the truth, we’ll go on strike,” he said.  “No benefit will accrue to Israel and the working class from the sale, and instead, it will expose the country to significant economic, social, and environmental dangers,” added MK Dov Khenin (Hadash)