Zim workers escalate strike over $4.2 billion sale to Hapag-Lloyd
Union halves exceptional operations and bars chairman from company facilities.
Zim’s labor dispute escalated over the weekend as workers sharply curtailed port operations and barred Chairman Yair Seroussi from entering company facilities, deepening their protest against the planned $4.2 billion sale of the shipping line to Hapag-Lloyd.
The workers’ union announced last week that it will cut in half the scope of the company’s approved exceptional activities, including, for example, the unloading of ships carrying agricultural produce. The union also stated that company chairman Yair Seroussi will not be permitted to enter Zim’s facilities in Haifa, Holon, and Ashdod.
The decision to scale back exceptional operations was made earlier, but implementation of the measures had been postponed.
On Sunday, the Knesset’s Economics Committee held a discussion on the proposed sale of Zim, at the initiative of MK Oded Forer. Last month, the workers’ union met with ministers Nir Barkat, Dudi Amsalem, Avi Dichter, and Gila Gamliel, as well as opposition lawmakers, including Forer.
In a statement, the union said:
“Zim is not an ordinary commercial company. During wartime, Zim’s vessels served as a vital channel for supplying ammunition, food, and medicine to the State of Israel. Selling it to a foreign shipping company would seriously harm the state’s ability to act independently in times of emergency. We are not just fighting for our jobs, we are fighting for the security of every Israeli citizen.”
