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.
Retail Wholesale Trade, Except Of Motor Vehicles And Motorcycles Non-Specialised Wholesale Trade 46.90 - Non-Specialised Wholesale Trade
European Globalisation Fund (EGF)
Year: 2023, Case number: 2
1,400 jobs Number of planned job losses
Announcement Date
18 November 2022
Employment effect (start)
18 November 2022
Foreseen end date
Description
Makro Belgium, a retail chain belonging to the Dutch brand Makro, has gone bankrupt, leading to the redundancy of its 1400 employees in Belgium.
While the acquisition of Makro by another company was considered, it did not go through, leading to the company officially being declared bankrupt.
Workers representatives as well as trade unions have criticised the lack of transparency of the process, which led to employees having to deal with a high degree of uncertainty for years.
As a result of the bankruptcy, Makro has filed an application for funding to the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund.
Makro has been operating in Belgium for fifty years.
Eurofound (2022), Makro, Bankruptcy in Belgium, factsheet number 200370, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/200370.
Digitisation and automation technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), can affect working conditions in a variety of ways and their use in the workplace raises a host of new ethical concerns.
The retail banking sector is fertile ground for studying the impacts of digitalisation on work and employment. Financial services are increasingly provided online, without the intermediary of customer-facing institutions.
European labour markets have recovered strongly from COVID-19. By the end of 2021, little more than 18 months after the start of the pandemic, employment rates in the EU were almost at pre-crisis levels.
