JERUSALEM, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- A half-day general strike was held across Israel on Sunday in protest over a major drugmaker's decision to lay off a quarter of its workers.
Israel-based Teva Pharmaceutical, the world's largest generic drugmaker, unveiled on Thursday its two-year restructuring plan, including the firing of 14,000 employees worldwide to help balance the company's debt.
In Israel, some 1,700 workers are expected to lose their jobs with a manufacturing site to be shut down.
The move prompted the Histadrut, Israel's main labor federation, to announce a half-day solidarity strike in the public sector from morning until noon.
The strike affected Israel's airports, banks, stock exchange, and all government ministries and offices.
The strike brought the country to a standstill. Workers blocked entrance to Jerusalem, and held protests in several locations including outside Teva's offices in Jerusalem, where they also burnt tires.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the issue in the weekly cabinet meeting Sunday, announcing that he will hold a meeting this week with Kare Schultz, the CEO of Teva.
"I spoke with him (Schultz) last week and I told him that our first goal is to minimize the blow to workers," said Netanyahu in a televised statement. "The second thing is to do everything possible to prevent the closure of plants in Jerusalem. The third thing is to ensure that Teva remains in Israel."
Netanyahu noted that Teva, once a flagship company of Israeli industry, hires thousands of employees in Israel. "It started as an Israeli company and we want it to remain as an Israeli company," he said.
Teva fell into a financial crisis in 2017, with nearly 35 billion U.S. dollars in debt due to its acquisition of Allergan's Actavis Generic business for 40.5 billion dollars, and the expiration of the last patent on its best-selling drug, Copaxone, a multiple sclerosis medicine.
