Zim strike ends as $300 million severance deal removes key employee hurdle for sale
Employees return to work after breakthrough in talks with Hapag-Lloyd.
Zim employees have returned to work and called off the strike after making progress in negotiations with the management. During the negotiations, the acquiring company, Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd, facilitated talks between employees and Zim CEO Eli Glickman, leading to an agreement in principle.
Under the emerging framework, of Zim’s roughly 1,000 employees, about 120 are expected to transfer to a new ZIM entity that will be maintained by the FIMI fund, while approximately 400 employees will move to the Israeli headquarters that Hapag-Lloyd plans to establish.
In addition, Hapag-Lloyd is expected to allocate at least $300 million to finance severance payments for approximately 500 employees who will retire as part of the transaction. Employees will also receive a sale-related bonus, although its amount has yet to be determined.
Some 400 employees have already returned to the offices following the end of the strike, while the remainder are working from home. All employees will receive full pay for the strike days, as well as the salary grade increases they were due to receive in January.
Workers’ union chairman Oren Caspi and CEO Glickman also reached an understanding to extend the collective agreement for an additional five years. The union insisted that employees transferring to Hapag-Lloyd formally retire from Zim before being rehired under new employment terms.
Caspi told Calcalist: “Glickman made it clear that a week or two of downtime could lead to the company’s collapse. We know him, and he has always kept his word.”
Glickman is expected to finalize the understandings with Hapag-Lloyd’s CEO on Wednesday.
