Israeli workers protest massive layoffs

Hundreds of workers of Israel Chemicals (ICL) took the streets of Tel Aviv Tuesday to protested massive layoffs which left dozens jobless in the region which holds the highest unemployment rates in Israel.

The protesters rallied in front of the ICL headquarters, one of the country's largest industrial groups, briefly blocking major main roads in Israel's financial capital.

They called on the government to solve the employment crisis in southern Israel, where unemployment rates reach 15-30 percents, and demanded to cancel the firing of 140 employees of ICL's Dead Sea Works and bromine-compound plant in the Negev.

The workers lifted placards reading: "Bibi (Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) unemployment is bigger threat than Iran," and "Shame on the government."

ICL, the world's sixth-largest manufacturer of potash, decided to fire around 300 workers as part of its plan to cut costs in Israel and expand its operations overseas.

On Sunday, Netanyahu promised the ICL's labor union to put pressure on the company to cancel the massive firings.

The prime minister intervention came after Israel's main labor union, the Histadrut, threatened to launch a general strike only a few days before the March 17 elections.

Netanyahu is running for another term in office in a closely fought election campaign against opposition leader Isaac Herzog's Zionist Union. Endit