Elbit employees protest ‘second-class’ treatment as company hits record highs
Workers accuse management of discriminating between unionized and non-union employees.
“Stinginess on a level we have never seen. Spitting in the face of each and every one of us”: Employees at subsidiaries of Elbit Systems are reporting growing unrest across the group’s sites nationwide, alleging discrimination between employees on personal contracts and those employed under collective agreements.
At the center of the dispute is a company-organized vacation planned for later this year in Eilat. According to workers’ unions at Elbit subsidiaries, management intends to fully finance the vacation for approximately 10,000 employees employed under personal contracts, while around 5,000 unionized employees will be required to pay about NIS 6,300 (approximately $2,000) per couple to participate.
“This is a forceful, unilateral decision that is disconnected from reality and from any genuine appreciation for employees who work day and night for the company’s success,” read a message circulated to employees at Elbit’s El-Op subsidiary.
In recent days, protest signs criticizing the company’s conduct and expressing employee anger have appeared in corridors and workspaces. Workers claim that “management has chosen to show us exactly what we are worth in its eyes, second-class employees who don’t count, weak and even invisible workers. While CEO Bezhalel (Butzi) Machlis earns $75 million, the company has chosen to save money by cutting back on us.”
El-Op is not the only subsidiary experiencing visible unrest over the planned vacation. Similar protests have taken place at other Elbit companies, including the Elisra site in Holon, Spectralink, and Tadiran Kesher. In several cases, workers’ unions have called on employees not to register for the vacation.
“We will take a range of actions to make it clear to management that treatment begets treatment,” a union member told Calcalist. He added that discussions are underway among workers’ unions across the Elbit Group to establish a central coordinating committee that would act collectively on behalf of thousands of employees.
The protests come after more than two years of intensified production activity amid Israel’s prolonged war and surging global demand for Elbit’s weapons systems. The company, controlled by Mikey Federman and listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, crossed a market capitalization of NIS 100 billion for the first time in its history about a week and a half ago. Elbit closed the third quarter of 2025 with record quarterly revenue of $1.9 billion and an order backlog of $25.2 billion.
“When the war broke out on October 7, we all stepped up,” one employee said. “We didn’t ask questions and didn’t make demands. We work around the clock to meet orders and production challenges. The company is achieving unprecedented success, but workers are excluded from the celebration. They are stingy, and we are treated like slaves, literally.”
Elbit Systems responded: “All company employees were invited to take part in the vacation. Employees covered by collective agreements receive vacation budgets in accordance with those agreements and were offered the option of using those budgets to finance their participation. Company management would be pleased if all employees choose to take part in the vacation.”
