Kika employees protest outside store
Some 200 employees of Austrian furniture giant's Netanya branch demanding dismissial notices having not received their April salaries
Some 200 employees of the Kika furniture chain gathered outside the Netanya store Thursday in an act of protest having not received their salaries for the month of April.
The Austrian chain's Israel branch is experiencing financial problems and is in danger of closing. Kika's owners are in talks with their banks, who have frozen the company's credit lines.
Kika employees outside store (Photo: Raanan Ben-Zur)
"We are demanding dismissal notices and compensation," the store's deputy manager told Ynet. "People here are hanging in the air. Most of the workers who were here sincee since the store's launch are making NIS 4,000, NIS 5,000 a month.
"Tomorrow they'll be thrown out of their homes because their checks are bouncing and they have no money to buy bread," Iris Tayeb said.
Kika employees outside the store (Photo: Ido Erez)
Among the protesters was VP Alon Alfaravoich who said, "I don't intend to give up, I want my money to the very last cent."
"I've worked here for a year and two months and only yesterday we realized that the store will be closed," he added. "Today we arrived and the store was closed. They won't let us in. We were told that the matter will be debated in court and that the store will reopen on Sunday."
An April report on Kika Israel's financial status revealed that the branch had earned NIS 27 million in 2011 and lost NIS 44.5 million. In 2010, the store lost NIS 13.5 million.
The report reflected a lackluster number of shoppers relative to initial expectations. The company has recently changed its marketing strategy after managers realized the chain is being perceived as too expensive.
Assaf Rosen contributed to this report
