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.
Manufacturing Manufacture Of Rubber And Plastic Products And Other Non-Metallic Mineral Products Manufacture Of Other Non-Metallic Mineral Products 23 - Manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products
280 jobs Number of planned job losses
Announcement Date
8 May 2008
Employment effect (start)
8 May 2008
Foreseen end date
Description
The Tyrolean company Swarovski is to cut 280 jobs from a total of about 6600 posts at its headquarters in Wattens. The announcement was made by the management on 8 May 2007. The company manufactures crystal and comprises the brands Tyrolit, Swareflex, Signity and Swarovski Optik. The planned job reductions are due to a 'currently awkward market situation', in particular the current overall decline in purchasing power in the U.S.A., the increasingly unfavourable U.S. dollar exchange rate and competition by manufacturers from ‘low-wage countries’, which are imitating standard components with low-quality ware. The management is attempting to avoid direct dismissals by not filling vacancies and not renewing fixed-term employment contracts. In addition some employees will be relocated to other sites in Tyrol, such as the optics branch in Absam. Despite these redundancy plans, the management has announced € 120 million ‘additional strategic investments’ in Wattens for ‘long-term expansion of their leading market position’ in the core business segment of crystal and jewellery. On 10 September 2008, management announced further 'capacity adjustments' to be realised by the end of 2008, affecting additional 290 employees, most of them blue-collar workers with fixed-term employment contracts. In total, the company will have reduced its workforce by around 10% from May to December 2008.
Sources
10 September 2008: Boerse-Express
8 May 2008: Die Presse
8 May 2008: Der Standard
Citation
Eurofound (2008), Swarovski, Internal restructuring in Austria, factsheet number 66683, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/66683.
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.
