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 Wood And Paper Materials Manufacture Of Wood And Of Products Of Wood And Cork, Except Furniture; Manufacture Of Articles Of Straw And Plaiting Materials 16 - Manufacture of wood and of products of wood and cork, except furniture; manufacture of articles of straw and plaiting materials
101 jobs Number of planned job losses
Announcement Date
26 February 2009
Employment effect (start)
1 March 2009
Foreseen end date
31 March 2009
Description
Two Estonian subsidiaries of the Norwegian producer and wholeseller of frames, the Artlink company, will be closed down and 101 jobs will be lost during March 2009 due to the bankruptcy of the corporation. The manufacturer of picture frames, Artlink Production AS will dismiss 97 and the selling subsidiary Artlink Baltic AS will dismiss all 4 workers. The corporation that operated mainly in Scandinavian countries, will close down or sell all factories and marketing units.
According to the director of the production unit of Artlink Productions, problems started to occur already in the autumn of 2008. Accroding to his assessment, the main reason for bankruptcy lied in the disagreements over refinancing between owners in the main corporation. Furthermore, the company undertook smaller scale redundancies already during 2008 in their production units showing signs of difficulties.
The member of the board of Artlink Productions took the initiative to try to save the production unit in Estonia. New possible investors were already found, but it was decided that the risks of keeping the comapny are too high due to the bankruptcy of the whole group.
Artlink Productions specialised on the manufacturing of picture frames and framing pictures and mirrors. The company had been employing more than 100 workers for over 15 years in the region. Many of the workers losing their jobs had been employed in the company for over 10 years.
Eurofound (2009), Artlink Production, Bankruptcy in Estonia, factsheet number 68478, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/68478.
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.
