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.
Elcoteq Tallinn, the Estonian subsidiary of the Finnish company Elcoteq SE, announced the reduction of 166 jobs in the company. 1,240 will face a change in their employer as a result of acquisition by Ericsson, the Swedish telecommunications company, which has been the main client of the Estonian subsidiary to date.
Ericsson announced in June that it will buy part of the production facilities of Elcoteq Tallinn for a total of EUR 30 million (about EEK 469 million). This means that about 1240 workers will face a change of their employer. This decision was made in the framework of the general plan of Elcoteq SE to mainly focus its European production in Hungary.
Currently about 1,600 persons are employed in Elcoteq Tallinn. The communications and marketing director, Carsten Barth, assured that the working conditions and wage levels of those, about 1,200 workers to be employed by Ericsson will remain the same. Also, the nature of their current job will not change.
Negotiations were held on the future of the rest of the workers currently employed in Elcoteq. As a result, it was decided by Elcoteq to keep some of the activities in Estonia, which enabled maintaining about 25 jobs in the company. Total job losses reached to 166 - all of whom will be made redundant on 22 July 2009 according to media reports.
All of the persons made redundant in Elcoteq were provided assistance by the Unemployment Insurance Fund who arranges a reaction service to redundancies on the financing of the European Social Fund. Persons about to be made redundant were informed of their rights and possibilities and provided information and training on finding a new job (e.g. participating in a job interview, compiling a CV etc). Also, based on the skills and competencies of those interested, need for additional measures (e.g. additional training or retraining) was assessed. The information was provided in both Estonian and Russian as a large part of the employees in Elocteq are Russian-speaking with poor Estonian language skills.
Elcoteq has faced considerable restructuring over the past years. Just earlier this year, additional 385 jobs were lost (see also factsheet). At its peak, a total of 4,000 workers have been employed in the Tallinn site. However, in 2008 the Elcoteq coroporation faced a total loss of EEK 110 million, which has resulted in the need to introduce a Restructuring Plan earlier this year (January 2009).
The acquisition is hoped to be finalised by the end of 2009.
Eurofound (2009), Elcoteq Tallinn, Merger/Acquisition in Estonia, factsheet number 69180, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://dev.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/69180.
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