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.
Unilever, the multi-national manufacturer of consumer goods, is to close three plants in the Netherlands with the loss of 470 jobs. The affected plants are at Delft where 170 are employed, Loosdrecht where 177 are employed, and Vlaardingen where 127 are employed. Most of the production at the sites is to be transferred to other mainly eastern European countries. The closures are due to take place before the end of 2008, and direct dismissals have not been ruled out by the firm. In the wake of the announcement on 9th October 2007, Dutch trade unions responded by calling strikes in six Unilever plants and demanded that the firm consider alternatives to the closure. Unilever employ 4,500 in the Netherlands. The measures are part of a general Unilever restructuring programme that envisages 20,000 job losses globally by 2011.
Follow-up information on this case is available on the European Industrial Relations Observatory (EIRO) - Agreement reached at Unilever after three-week strike over plant closures (14 January 2008).
Eurofound (2007), Unilever Nederland, Offshoring/Delocalisation in Netherlands, factsheet number 65937, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/65937.