Rafi Maor
צילום: אסף מליחי
ECI to downsize workforce in Israel
Chairman says dismissal of 100 employees is necessary to compete in changing market and maintain growth
ECI Telecom will cut 100 jobs in Israel as part of an overall reorganization process.
"We're forced to make some layoffs in an Israel workforce of 1,600," said Rafi Maor, president and chief executive officer of ECI Telecom. A similar number of positions is expected to be cut from the company's offices abroad.
The Russian Rosatom State Corporation has recently been negotiating the purchase of parts of ECI. In late 2010, ECI laid-off a similar number of employees, and sent others to unpaid vacation.
"The global communication market is undergoing dramatic changes, and it is highly affected by the current state of the global economy and the aggressive entrance of Chinese companies to the market introducing a low profit business model," said Maor.
According to Maor, many communication companies worldwide were forced to let go of tens of thousands of employees, and moved significant operations to areas of competitive operational costs, such as China and India. Maor further said that in the past year ECI showed important recovery signals, and its revenue grew by 15%, one of the highest growth rates in the communication market.
"In order to maintain growth, and preserve our position as a leading Israeli company, it is unavoidable to take reorganizing steps, and to transfer parts of our activities to areas of lower operational costs, similar to our activities in the Negev, in China and in India," explained Maor
