Teva Pharmaceuticals’ massive layoffs

Pharmaceutical giant Teva announced Thursday that starting soon and until the end of 2014, it will go through a comprehensive wave of layoffs in Israel and abroad. The job cut will see some 5,000 employees laid off, with an estimated 800 to lose their jobs in Israel. The wave of layoffs is part of a program launched at the end of 2012 with the goal of maximizing the company’s profit.

Teva's senior staff at the New York Stock Exchange (Photo: NYSE)

Teva’s senior staff at the New York Stock Exchange (Photo: NYSE)

 Teva did not say how many employees it will layoff of its 7,400 workers in Israel, but the Israeli “Ha’aretz” daily reported that about 800 workers will lose their jobs. Most of Teva’s employees in Israel are members of the Labor Confederation, the Histadrut, with a collective agreement. Teva representatives spoke on the phone Thursday with Histadrut Trade Union Department Chairman Avi Nissankoren about the layoffs. It was agreed upon that the restructuring process will be coordinated with the workers committee and the Histadrut.

Attempts to explain the move on the part of Teva’s senior staff have not put a stop to the biting criticism against the pharmaceutical giant. According to Communist weekly “Zu Haderech”: “Twelve billion shekels [about $3.4 million] — that is the gift Teva received from the government in the last five years, while paying almost no taxes. Teva pocketed a pure profit of more than a billion dollars, so it is hard to believe that Teva was seemingly ‘forced’ to lay off employees due to financial difficulties. It’s become clear that the myth that distributing tax benefits and giving grants to conglomerates will lead to the development of jobs for Israeli citizens – is complete fiction.”