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For the first time in Israel, a comprehensive collective agreement in the hi-tech industry was signed with software giant SAP on 15 January 2017. The agreement, which will apply to approximately 600 company employees, includes, inter alia: increasing the pension allocations, increasing the convalescence pay and the quota of vacation days in the company, articles for strengthening the employees' job security and car benefits.

Histadrut Chairman Avi Nissenkorn, heads of the SAP management in Israel, Chairman of the Hi-Tech Workers Union, Yaki Haluzi, and Chairman of the SAP employees' committee, Gad Ravid, signed on 15.1.17 the first collective agreement in the SAP company in Israel. The agreement was signed after over two years of negotiations between the parties, and is in fact the first comprehensive agreement which was signed to regulate the workers' rights in the hi-tech industry in Israel. We will mention that so far collective agreements were signed in the hi-tech industry that are defined as interim agreements only, like the agreements concerning employees of Zora (formerly Comverse) and Tech Mahindra with regard to the purchase contract that was signed between the two companies.

As stated, the agreement that was signed today is the first agreement of its kind in Israel, and the work process on its consolidation was conducted between the parties, in coordination with the world SAP management. This agreement, which anchors the workers' rights and regulates an improvement in their employment conditions, was adapted to the unique characteristics of the hi-tech industry in Israel and the global work environment in which the company operates.

The organizational part of the agreement includes many articles which contribute to increasing the employees' job security, while regulating a fair and transparent dismissal mechanism. Another mechanism that was regulated as part of cultivating the human capital in the company, is designed to ensure compensation for encouraging excellence, while enhancing the systemic transparency and maintaining the values of the organizational culture.

In the framework of the new agreement, SAP employees in Israel will be entitled to an increase in their pension allocations, while increasing the employers' payment to the compensations component to a maximum rate of 7.5%. Moreover, the agreement also increases the quota of annual vacation days, including vacation days in two additional holiday eves which will be given at the expense of the employer. In addition, the agreement increases the value of a convalescence day to NIS 450 (approximately $117.86).

As part of improving the employees' conditions and promoting their welfare, it was decided, inter alia, to increase the subsidization of the leasing program for employees, and to begin the company's funding of the travel on Highway 6 and in the Carmel Tunnels. In addition, SAP employees in Israel will be able to participate in a global scholarships program of the company and receive a scholarship subject to meeting the criteria.

According to the agreement, the annual welfare budget in the company, which is designated for the benefit of activities for the employees, will be NIS 4,150 (approximately $1086.96) per employee. In addition, it was agreed that there will be joint management of the welfare budget by the management and the employees' representation. Additional news that the agreement bears is the affixing of the existing benefits in the company, for example: health insurance, medical examinations and a study fund for every employee starting from the first workday in the company with a maximum allocation rate by the employer.

The wage increments in the company will continue to be according to the wage policy of the global company each year, but from now on, thanks to the agreement, a fixed percentage wage increment will also be ensured in order to prevent erosion alongside an escalation mechanism if the Israeli site will be discriminated against with regard to wage increments in comparison with the other sites throughout the world.

The new agreement also includes for the first time in Israel a transparency program of the wage ranges for employees in the different professions and creating a balance between the business needs of SAP and the cooperation of the employees' committee in the various processes occurring in the company, in accordance with a comprehensive process of the company to increase transparency in its sites around the world.

The Histadrut Chairman, Avi Nissenkorn, congratulated the SAP employees in Israel and said: "The collective agreement in SAP is a groundbreaking agreement that motivates a social revolution and paves the path for other agreements in the hi-tech industry. Today we have proven again that increasing the employees' job security and encouraging the excellence in the company are not conflicting values, but the opposite. The agreement strengthens the employees' status in SAP and simultaneously maintains the company's strength in the competitive industry. Warm congratulations to the employees' committee headed by Gad Ravid for the determination that managed to bring real news, thanks to the management for their cooperation, and congratulations to the Cellular, Internet & Hi-Tech Workers Union, headed by Yaki Haluzi, for its significant contribution to change reality."

Chairman of the Cellular, Internet & Hi-Tech Workers Union of the Histadrut, Yaki Haluzi, joined the Histadrut Chairman's words and added: "Today is a historic day. The collective agreement in SAP is proof that even in the hi-tech industry it's possible to create collective agreements which increase in practice the employees' job security, alongside preserving the excellence that's so important for ensuring Israel's status as an international hi-tech superpower. I want to congratulate the parties for the willingness and the perseverance that enabled the agreement to take shape."

The management of SAP in Israel welcomes the agreement and notes: "Maintaining the principles of the agreement will allow the company to preserve its competitive advantage and the organizational excellence as a leading international corporation in the field of technology through flexibility to implement organizational changes, alongside maintaining the responsibility and the administrative authority in the company. Implementation of the agreement will increase the employees' job security, anchor their conditions, and enable attracting quality human capital to the company in the future."

Gad Ravid, Chairman of the SAP employees' committee in Israel: "I am pleased and proud that we reached the first collective agreement in the Israeli hi-tech. For the last two and a half years we held negotiations that greatly dealt with changing the culture and the perception of the Israeli hi-tech world and we were able to create a completely new reality. We succeeded in anchoring critical issues for workers in hi-tech and increasing the job security and the transparency. I have no doubt that the agreement will help the company to be even better and more successful. We thank the Histadrut Chairman, Avi Nissenkorn, and the Chairman of the Cellular, Internet & Hi-Tech Workers Union, Yaki Haluzi, for the assistance along the way, and also the management of SAP in Israel."