Hadassah Medical Center's creditors have reportedly initiated measures that may force the hospital to seek legal remedies, one day after Hadassah CEO Avigdor Kaplan threatened to seek a stay of proceedings.
The banks have reportedly frozen Hadassah's credit lines from healthcare funds. At the same time, Hebrew daily "Haaretz" reports that the hospital's management has notified the Ministry of Health that food, cleaning, guard, and medical equipment vendors has halted deliveries because of the hospital's cumulative debts to them.
Healthcare sources told "Globes" that these measures are not coincidental, and that to a large extent they allegedly serve the interests of Hadassah's management, a claim that management denies. The sources said that the actions help management by putting pressure on employees to accept changes in their employment contracts on one hand, and put pressure on the government to inject hundreds of millions of shekels into the hospital on the other hand. The message to Hadassah's doctors, nurses, and administrative and support staff, all of whom have launched labor sanctions, is that the hospital cannot meet its full payroll, after halving January's salaries.
Hadassah Medical Center has a deficit of NIS 1.3 billion, and its annual expenditures exceed income by NIS 300 million.
Unions' maneuvering room is greatly reduced during a stay of proceedings, which is heard in a district court rather than in labor court. Furthermore, a court-appointed trustee is far less amenable to pressure than an employer who faces labor sanctions and strikes. Although a trustee must still "consult" with the unions, he does so under a much tighter timetable and without the mechanisms included in a labor contract, such as a layoffs committee in which management and the unions agree on layoffs. A trustee can petition the court to approve his proposal, including demands for cutbacks and layoffs. In this way, management can put unions into a pressure cooker, neutralizing the right to strike.
Sources at Hadassah told "Globes" that management would not hesitate to seek a stay of proceedings, and that the criticism should target the government for its alleged foot-dragging in the talks on a recovery plan for the hospital.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 6, 2014
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