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.
Dutch car manufacturer VDL Nedcar is to cut 600 jobs in its Born establishment due to the COVID-19 crisis.
Redundancies involve 150 permanent contracts and 450 temporary agency workers. The order volume for VDL Nedcar was decreased this year, and BMW, the only VDL Nedcar client, expects demand will remain low in 2021 too.
For the 150 employees on a permanent contract, the company tries to find a new job at another company within the VDL conglomerate. Furthermore, a plan will be drafted for a voluntary redundancy scheme. In general, the future for the remaining 4,000 workers is still uncertain since BMW has announced that it will stop production in the Dutch carmaker in 2023. VDL Nedcar has been looking for a new employer.
Employee representatives understand the need for restructuring, adding they hope VDL Nedcar will be able to find new clients to avoid further job cuts.
In addition to the 600 layoffs, 150 employees will not be renewed, these workers were only hired temporarily in the fall of 2020 until the end of the year because of a peak of work. Overall, in 2020, car sales in the Netherlands shrink by 22% in comparison with the previous year. VDL Nedcar is currently producing the Mini Countryman and BMW X1, but in general, it operates as a flexible part of BMW's production capacity. Finally, at its peak in 2018, the company employed 7,000 people.
Eurofound (2020), VDL Nedcar, Internal restructuring in Netherlands, factsheet number 102718, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://dev.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/102718.
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