Hundreds of workers at Israel Military Industries staged a violent demonstration Sunday in front of the Prime Minister’s Office, as the Cabinet was discussing a major recovery plan for the state-owned firm.
The plan was prepared in the wake of drastic cuts in exports of military equipment.
The recovery plan calls for switching most of the military industries to domestically oriented industries.
It also means drastic cuts in manpower, and the dismissal of between 2,000 and 3,000 workers.
By this coming March, some 25 percent of IMI’s work force could be unemployed. And the wages of remaining workers would be reduced.
Four of the industry’s plants would be shut down. Others might be merged. The four plants which are likely to be closed down are in Jerusalem, Ma’alot, Kiryat Shmona and the Tel Aviv area.
Under the plan, about $150 million would be set aside for workers to be pensioned off.
IMI was about to establish a center where dismissed workers could look for new jobs.
Workers outside the Prime Minister’s Office protested the recovery plan, saying at least two such plans were prepared in the past two years to no avail.
At times, the demonstrators threatened to enter the Prime Minister’s office by force, clashing with police.
Knesset member Shlomo Buhbut, the mayor of Ma’alot, at one point got into a fistfight with a policeman as he tried to rescue a worker who had been arrested.
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