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.
BMW, the Germany-based multinational carmaker has announced that it will reduce the number of shifts in its Mini plant in Oxford from October. The change would lead to 400 job cuts among its 950 agency staff, who are formally employed by the Gi Group. BMW said it would also lay off a small number of its ‘core employees’, with voluntary redundancies and early retirement options offered to workers.
A representative of BMW said it was a 'difficult decision' to cut jobs, however, this would help the company to adapt production volumes to reduced demand in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company emphasised that they were in discussion with employee representatives about the changes.
The plant in Oxford is one of three Mini plants in the UK, where all the parts are assembled. Production was stopped in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic, with work restarting again in May.
Update 8/10/2020:
BMW has announced that it will postpone the redundancies affecting agency staff. The three-shift work pattern will be continued after mid-October, due to 'higher-than-expected order volumes'. However, a spokesperson for the company said they would continue to closely review the situation.
Eurofound (2020), BMW, Internal restructuring in United Kingdom, factsheet number 101939, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://dev.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/101939.
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