Restructuring events
European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
The Maltese national carrier Air Malta based at Luqa, announced that it has cut 69 pilots from its 333 employees. This announcement came after weeks of negotiations that initiated in early April, when Air Malta had announced plans to cut 108 pilots and 139 of its cabin crew.
In response to Air Malta’s decision, Airline Pilots Association-Malta obtain a warrant of prohibitory injunction against the airline, temporarily blocking the terminations from being brought into effect. However, when questioned on these redundancies, the Prime Minister stated that the decision on Air Malta had been taken, and he would not back down on it.
The COVID-19 crisis presented challenging times for the airline as tourism was brought to a standstill. Initial attempts by the company to safeguard these redundancies by offering pilots a stay at home financial package of €1200 a month was turned down by the pilot’s union.
The Economy Ministry said that talks had broken down after ALPA demanded a €73 million early retirement guarantee for its members. This sum was derived from clauses in the pilot’s collective agreement that included the right to a sum of 700 hundred thousand euro if one retires at age 55.
ALPA took this matter to court only to have the court ruling in late June that Air Malta could proceed with the redundancies. Following the court’s decision Air Malta’s officials informed ALPA that the airline was withdrawing its offer to continue negotiations. Pilots were expected to vote in an imminent meeting, on a final proposal which saw cockpit crew accepting to take a significant wage cuts until 2023, as long as all pilots would keep their jobs.
Eurofound (2020), Air Malta, Internal restructuring in Malta, factsheet number 100819, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://dev.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/100819.
This working paper offers a comprehensive methodological overview of the European Restructuring Monitor (ERM) databases. Even though the methodology has not changed over time, new categories have been added, and the way it has been used by researchers and policymakers...
This Eurofound research paper explores key trends in restructuring in recent years, highlighting the companies that announced the largest job losses and job gains in the EU. It builds on an analysis of company announcements recorded in Eurofound’s European Restructuring...
In 2023, thousands of workers in big tech lost their jobs. Meta, Amazon, Google, Apple, Microsoft and Salesforce had been considered to offer good and secure jobs up to this point. Giants of the information and communication technology (ICT) sector,...
In 2024, the automotive sector in the EU came to the fore in public and policy discussions. The focus was on the slowdown in electric vehicle (EV) sales, rising global competition, belated investments in new technologies, and the potential closure...
The more employee monitoring resembles surveillance – with its systematic, continuous and detailed tracking of employees' activities, behaviours or communications – the greater the potential for infringement of both privacy and data protection rights. Although the EU General Data Protection...
Since 2013, Eurofound's ERM database on restructuring-related legislation has been documenting regulatory developments in the Member States of the European Union and Norway which are explicitly or implicitly linked to anticipating and managing change. The most recent update to the...
