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.
On 13 September 2011, pharmaceutical manufacturer Pfizer Belgium announced an internal restructuring plan affecting around 167 jobs from now until the end of the 2012. The job cuts will mainly concern administrative and sales staff in Brussels (Ixelles). According to the management, the measure is attributed to the uncertain macro-economic environment, high costs for research, the loss of patent on certain drugs and the increase use of generic drugs.
This is the third mass redundancy drive over the last five years. The two previous waves of dismissals occurred following the merger between Pfizer and Pharmacia. According to the unions, this restructuring is linked to the recent takeover of Wyeht.
Aside from the site in Brussels, which employs some 550 people, Pfizer operates other four sites in Belgium: a research unit in Anderlecht (50 employees), two production sites in Puurs (1.350 employees) and Louvain-la-Neuve (200 employees), and a distribution and logistics centre in Zaventem (300 employees). In total, Pfizer Belgium employs some 2,450 people.
Eurofound (2011), Pfizer, Internal restructuring in Belgium, factsheet number 72406, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://dev.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/72406.
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...
