Netsource recognized the workers' organization, the dismissal letters were canceled

February 11, 2016   

Following a hearing in the Jerusalem Regional Labor Court held this morning (Thursday), Netsource, which employs hundreds of Haredi workers, announced that it recognizes the Histadrut as the representative labor organization of its 450 employees - and even froze the threat of closing the company. The hearing also determined that Netsource would suspend all disciplinary and financial measures it had taken against the workers and would withdraw the dismissal letters it had sent them. The workers will receive back wages that were deducted from them due to their participation in organizational activity. The company operates Golan Telecom's customer service centers, and most of its employees, in the centers located in Beit Shemesh and Jerusalem, are Haredi women of the Avreim. The company's manager is Mazal Sharim and its owner is Hillel Yaakovson. The court's president, Judge Eyal Avrahami, held the hearing after the Histadrut filed a huge lawsuit in the amount of 100 million shekels against Netsource, Sharim and Jacobson for harming the organization, and also filed an order to prevent wage deductions from the employees related to their activity in the organization. Avrahami ruled that the parties would sit down for intensive 10-day negotiations under the auspices of the court, in order to reach agreements between them on the issues in dispute. "The best course is to conduct collective negotiations between the parties for collective relations," Judge Avrahami wrote in his decision. Netsource told Haredim 10: "The parties arrived in a positive spirit, and at the recommendation of the court, each party made a gesture towards the other. The parties agreed to enter into negotiations over the next ten days, in order to try to find solutions that benefit everyone. "As part of the agreement, the owners were removed from the lawsuit, and the Histadrut pledged that the employees would continue working as usual." Netsource was represented by attorney Halit Simhony of the Amar Reiter Jean Shochtowitz & Co. The Histadrut was represented in the proceedings by the head of the AGM's legal bureau, Attorney Iris Vardi Israeli, Attorney Anat Gutman Marom of the legal bureau, and Attorney Shai Takan of the Fisher Bachar & Co. firm.