Chairman of the IAI Employees Committee, Yair Getz. Struggling for the company's competitiveness in the global market or defending salary irregularities? (Photo: official website, IAI Workers' Union)
Yesterday we reported exclusively, here in Walla! The letter Shadi Azzam, a senior deputy to the Ministry of Finance's payroll commissioner, sent to IAI, demanding data on the company's salary irregularities. Today comes the response of one of the most powerful workers' unions in the economy.
IAI Employees Committee Chairman Yair Katz will not agree to the Finance Ministry's demand that IAI employees return money they received beyond the salary limits at government companies.
As revealed in Walla, the Commissioner is demanding that the employees in charge of wages at the Ministry of Finance submit to him all material and claims regarding them by next Thursday, ahead of a decision on the matter, after the irregularities were identified back in 2018 and their handling was not completed even five years later.
In a letter sent in recent days by Shadi Azzam, Senior Deputy Enforcement on behalf of Payroll Commissioner Efi Malkin, to the IAI workers' union, he demands that the union receive by June 15 its response to the issue and any relevant documents, as part of the hearing for the employees before making decisions on the amounts that will be required to be returned.
The exclusive publication in Walla about the ultimatum of the Ministry of Finance's salary commissioner- https://finance.walla.co.il/item/3585062
Efi Malkin, Commissioner of Wages at the Ministry of Finance. Don't understand the business reality in which IAI operates, or worry about returning illegally paid money to the state coffers? (Photo: official website, spokesperson for the Ministry of Houther)
In his letter, Azzam mentions the sequence of the affair, which began in 2018. At that time, the Commissioner wrote to the Director General of IAI and the workers' committee and reported that an audit conducted by the Ministry of Finance's Salary Commissioner at the government company revealed that 3,000 IAI employees, including administrative workers and engineers, received the 46-year government salary level usually reserved for deputy directors general and directors general in the government service. The exact salary depends on the employee's work, education and length of employment, but it ranges from NIS 18,45 to NIS 46,3 gross per month.
The IAI workers' union claims that Level 000 is no longer used by CEOs in the civil service, who receive higher salaries on personal contracts. In addition, the union claims that such a rank has been granted only to <>,<> R&D workers who are supposed to receive higher salaries. The Ministry of Finance claims that the rank was also granted to many who are not engaged in R&D and are not entitled to it, and the committee claims that if there are any, it is only a few employees.
Five years ago, the Director General demanded that IAI's management immediately regulate the deviation, claiming that so many employees had never been allowed to hold the high rank. The company asked for a year to deal with the issue, but since then they have requested and received extensions from the Ministry of Finance to deal with the case. The Treasury also twice agreed to pay raises at the company and bonuses for employees in exchange for ending the issue of irregularities, but this did not progress.
"It's not true that we haven't made progress," Katz told Walla. "There has been progress and we could have already finished the whole story if we didn't have to deal with the ranks and promotions of employees for that year every year, because a new collective agreement has not yet been signed that will regulate promotions, and the possibility of paying more to outstanding workers, not only engineers, but also production workers."
Katz added, "I feel that the payroll supervisor doesn't understand the complex business reality in which we operate. IAI is not just another budgeted government company, it is a business and competitive company, with large revenues and profits. A company that sells mainly for export and needs to compete with Elbit, Rafael and the world's largest defense industries. His demand infuriates me and I will act in every possible way to prevent harm to the workers. That's what we were chosen for."
- money
Tags
- Israel Aerospace Industries
- Commissioner of Wages at the Ministry of Finance