Bnei Brak employees of the Osem food conglomerate have been
informed that the company's Bnei Brak plant will close within
a year and its production lines transferred to company
factories in Sderot and Yokne'am. The transfer will be
implemented gradually.
The deputy director of the plant's manpower department met
with heads of the Histadrut in Ramat Gan and Bnei Brak. At the
meeting, the parties reached an agreement guaranteeing the
rights of the plant's 120 employees.
According to the agreement between deputy director of the
manpower department, Avraham Finkelstein, and Histadrut
representatives Aryeh Hammer and Leah Neushel, Osem will give
the workers jobs either in company plants in Sderot, Yokne'am
and Holon, or in company distribution centers in Petach Tikvah
and Bnei Brak. A number of workers living in Ashdod have
expressed their willingness to work in Sderot. Other workers
will be transferred to distribution centers in Petach Tikvah
and Bnei Brak.
Osem's managers told Yated Ne'eman that most work in
the plant will stop immediately after the yomim tovim,
and within the year, the entire production line will be shut
down. The Bnei Brak Osem plant currently manufactures soup
powders, soup nuts, and pastas.
The decision to close the plant stems from the problem of
employing modern production methods in the aging Bnei Brak
plant. Similarly, environmental conditions and the fact that a
large residential area has developed around the plant -- built
more than fifty years ago -- make it difficult for it to
maintain ongoing production.
Company directors state that the plant and surrounding area
have yet to be sold, but a major real estate project is
anticipated for the vacated property.
