Meat (flash photo 90/Michael Giladi)
Dozens of veterinary inspectors employed through the Veterinary Inspection Corporation announced a mysterious “illness” that would prevent them from arriving at the slaughterhouses on Sunday. As a result, slaughterhouses all over the country will not be able to function and an acute shortage of fresh chicken is expected, as early as next Monday. The mysterious “illness” of the inspectors comes against the background of collective bargaining aimed at regulating their working conditions. Negotiations that are in advanced stages.
The Veterinary Inspection Corporation began its operation in March 2020 by virtue of the law, within the framework of a comprehensive reform in the food sector in Israel and with the aim of producing a high, uniform and independent standard of objective veterinary inspection of all animal products consumed in Israel. Without the supervision, the meat factories are not allowed to continue their activity.
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As part of the series of activities, in recent months negotiations have been taking place between the corporation’s management, the Ministry of Finance, the workers’ representatives and the new General Workers’ Union to regulate the terms of employment of all the veterinarians and inspectors employed within it, although some of them are already subject to collective agreements with which they have transferred to the corporation. The negotiations are in stages are moving forward, when the parties have already reached agreements in principle and exchanged drafts of the collective agreement. However, unexpectedly and in blatant bad faith and before the negotiations were concluded, the Histadrut delayed the continuation of the talks and even “exploded” a negotiation meeting. At the same time, the inspectors began to take wild organizational measures.
In the absence of supervision, it is not possible to operate the slaughterhouses and it will not be possible to provide the public with animal food, including fresh chicken products. In a notice to the employees issued today by the corporation’s management to the employees, it is stated: “Last week we witnessed an unusual and unreasonable morbidity rate significantly above the average morbidity rate for this time of the year. As you know, we are investing a lot of inputs and resources in order to sign a collective agreement. We are on the eve of signing a collective agreement and the timing of the increase in morbidity seems improbable, harms the corporation’s activity and causes damages. We expect each and every one of you to behave responsibly and professionally and not to harm the current work. As the morbidity continues and increases, the corporation will consider its steps and examine the use of the tools at its disposal, all this in order not to harm the essential activity his in maintaining public health.”
The Corporation for Veterinary Inspection stated: The corporation was established as part of a comprehensive reform and with the aim of regulating the veterinary inspection in Israel of animal food. Among other things, it is the corporation’s responsibility to arrange the terms of employment of all the veterinarians and inspectors employed within it, even though some of them are already subject to collective agreements with which they transferred to the corporation. To this end, the management of the corporation and the representative organization are working on reaching a collective agreement that will regulate the terms of employment for the benefit of the employees, the meat factories and the consumers.
Unfortunately, just before the signing of the agreement and as a show of strength, the Histadrut and the committee decided to start a wild strike under the guise of “workers’ disease”, in which dozens of workers announced that they would not come to work. This while deliberately harming the public in Israel, the slaughterhouses and the workers themselves. We call on everyone to come to their senses, to stop the cynical displays of power that cause unnecessary damage to the economy and the public and to return to constructive discourse with the aim of concluding and signing a collective labor agreement as soon as possible.
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