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.
Arkomat Bulgaria, a Turkish owned wire harness manufacturer, dismissed 800 workers at the beginning of October 2019, keeping only 50 members of the staff, in its plant in Kazanlak, Bulgaria. According to the company's owner, the job cuts were necessary due to orders decline, a reorientation of production and preparation of a new project.
The trade unions claim that the company did not inform about the dismissals in advance and that the tripartite council in the municipality has not been consulted.
The company, which established its first Bulgarian plant in Karlovo, in 1999, is a subsidiary of the Turkish owned Arkomat. By the end of 2018 the company employes 1,500 workers in Kazanlak and 450 in Karlovo. In the past few years, Arkomat has won several 'employer of the year' prizes by the Bulgarian Ministry of economy.
Update 13/10/2019: The company's management announced the securing of a new contract and the rehiring of 270 workers in November 2019. The company goal is to reach a total number of 450 workers in the Kazanlak plant by the end of 2020.
Eurofound (2019), Arkomat Bulgaria, Internal restructuring in Bulgaria, factsheet number 99106, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://dev.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/99106.
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...
