Caesar Hotels to provide loans to workers on unpaid leave

Caesar Premier Hotels in Jerusalem, Eilat and Tiberias have closed their doors and put about 600 workers on unpaid leave in light of the coronavirus crisis

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
ISRAEL’S HOTELS are looking up. (photo credit: REUTERS)
ISRAEL’S HOTELS are looking up.
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Caesar Premier Hotels, from Ella Brothers Group, will provide a loan to their regular employees who were put on unpaid leave.
Caesar Premier Hotels in Jerusalem, Eilat and Tiberias have closed their doors and put about 600 workers on unpaid leave in light of the coronavirus crisis.
Fearing that the National Institute payments would come to employees during or even after Passover, and fearing that the chain's employees might find it difficult to purchase products for Passover, the chain's management decided to provide a loan of NIS 2,500 per employee to the chain's permanent workers.
Avi Ella CEO: "The Caesar Premier Hotel chain is one of the oldest chains in Israel. Together with our dedicated employees, some of whom have been working in the chain for many years, we have gone through good and difficult periods over the years. Throughout the periods, the workers stood with us shoulder to shoulder.
"Knowing clearly that this crisis will also pass, it is very important for us to keep and retain our employees. We believe we will get everyone back to work in the near future. We consider it imperative for us to allow them to celebrate Passover in a respectable way.
"The loan will be repaid by the employees upon their return to work in a way that will not burden them."
Regarding the health and economic policy, Ella, who served as the president of the Hotels Association during the deep tourism crisis stemming from the Second Intifada, said: "I do not understand the state's hesitancy. A clear path must be taken and not a path that straddles in the middle. A full lockdown must be implemented, except for emergency industries (and not all kinds of essential enterprises) until after Passover, and a lot of money has to be paid out. You have to allocate a cumulative amount that may even reach 15% of GDP.
"The faster we get into a lockdown and start with the payouts the sooner we will emerge from the crisis with a healthier nation, a healthy and robust business economic system and perhaps a slightly less wealthy country.
"The state's captains, and probably rightly, argue that the State of Israel has entered into a crisis when our economic situation is excellent. On the other hand, we see in retrospect that the health system was not properly prepared for a major crisis of any kind.
"As with any organization, strengths are brought in to address weaknesses. It is better for us to regret in the future that we rushed into a lockdown and streaming out money than to regret that we did not do that. "


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