The Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) today warned management of Amdocs Ltd. (Nasdaq: DOX) against allegedly illegal intervention by company managers in an attempt to influence its organization of the company workers. Union Employees of the Internet and Mobile High-Tech Federation chairman Yaki Halutzi sent a letter to Amdocs CEO Eli Gelman stating, "From what has been brought to our attention by company employees, it seems that Amdocs is taking measures to influence the workers and their organization."
Amdocs Israel has 4,500 employees, and the open stage of organizing the workers in the company began last week in an attempt to introduce collective labor relations. The Histadrut explained that this process can become a reality, given the workers' desire to ensure their future employment and improve their employment terms. This is a continuation of the trend towards organization of high-tech workers, following the unionization of workers at SAP Israel, Ness Technologies, and Comverse Inc. (Nasdaq: CNSI).
In Halutzi's letter, he wrote, "Despite public statements by Amdocs that the company will not intervene in the workers' unionization, it has become clear to us that the company's actions do not match its words. An internal committee has been formed at the company equipped with the best material for thwarting unionization, including a well-worded membership cancellation. The person selected to lead the internal committee is company director Dan Hod."
Halutzi also alleged that Hod last Thursday distributed three times by company e-mail negative letters about unionization, in which support is expressed for the founding of an internal committee. According to Halutzi, one of Hod's messages to the workers also included a link to a "petition" website designed to gather workers' signatures against unionization. "'Surprisingly,' he was not blocked by the relevant professional personnel."
Halutzi added that these acts were not acceptable at Amdocs, and that under the company's internal rules, an e-mail message to all the workers requires approval from the personnel department.
The Histadrut's letter to Gelman alleges that at a meeting with the workers at the company last Thursday, one of the Amdocs vice presidents told them that their unionization under Histadrut's auspices was of doubtful value , and that the company's US management would have no patience for such a measure.
"The company distributed instructions to its managers not to interfere with the organization, but it appears that these instructions were not sufficiently clear, and that in any case, the company is acting clandestinely and indirectly to thwart and disrupt unionization. We regard such acts seriously, since they constitute a gross violation of the right to organize," Halutzi asserted.
Amdocs Israel said in response, "The company has no part in unionizing the workers in the Histradrut, and no part in the unionization of workers in a different action committee, or in any other way. Every company employee has the right to choose whether to be unionized in the Histradrut framework or any other framework, or not to be unionized at all. Amdocs Israel respects, and will continue to respect, the provisions of the law in this matter."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 10, 2015
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