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.
Yoko Cheese, the Belgian branch of the Dutch dairy production company FrieslandCampina, has announced the closure of its packaging establishment for cheese in Genk, as a result, 211 jobs will be cut.
Because of the COVID-19 crisis, by the end of 2020, FrieslandCampina will move the packaging of cheese in its Dutch establishments (namely Wolvega and Leerdam), by reducing the packaging sites from three to two. The formal information and consultation process has now been launched.
Company representatives claim that the decision to close the Genk based site is due to underutilisation of its cheese packaging network. Moreover, they added that this closure will lead to a €100 million saving costs from 2022. Whereas trade unions report that they are surprised by the decision, as the facility has always been viable.
FrieslandCampina is owned by 11,500 affiliated dairy farms. The Belgian establishment closure follows a greater European internal restructuring, overall, around 1,000 employees are at risk. In particular, 195 in Germany and around 230 in the Netherlands. However, the precise distribution of the 1,000 layoffs among Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands is not available, but according to the sources, the majority of the jobs cuts will occur in the Netherlands.
Eurofound (2020), Yoko Cheese, Internal restructuring in Belgium, factsheet number 102754, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://dev.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/102754.
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...
