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.
Bekaert, a company specialized in the processing of metals, announced the intention to cut 600 jobs in Belgium. The plants concerned are in Aalter, Zwevegem, Deerlijk and Ingelmunster.
According to the management, there are several reasons for the restructuring: the fast and structural change of the worldwide market of solar energy, growing uncertainty about certain markets and global long-term volatility.
Currently, the unions are in negotiations with the management in an effort to reduce the number of layoffs. The timeline for the cuts is not yet known.
Earlier, the company had already announced the cut of 1,250 workplaces in China.
Eurofound (2012), Bekaert, Internal restructuring in Belgium, factsheet number 73087, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://dev.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/73087.
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...
