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.
American firm Huntsman is closing its chemical factory in Cumbria and shedding 140 jobs. The announcement will mean the plant, which used to employ 2,000 workers, will be manned by just 10 people by the end of 2006.
Ged Caig, spokesman for the GMB union, said the move was a "betrayal" of workers. The jobs will be phased out over the next 15 months. But Mr Caig condemned the move. He said: "Only a few months ago workers agreed to retrain and multiskill. A statement released on behalf of Huntsman blamed an "increasingly competitive environment" for the job losses. Huntsman took over the site three years ago promising a bright future for chemical production in the town. But last year the wind-down of the operation began when 85 jobs were shed.
Eurofound (2004), Huntsman, Closure in United Kingdom, factsheet number 60781, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://dev.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/60781.