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.
On 26 and 27 October, 2011 the French public multinational industrial conglomerat Areva (120 500 employees) announced to its European Works Council its intention to cut nearly 950 jobs in the frame of a significant cost savings programme. Areva is involved in the nuclear energy sector.
Areva plans to cut 800 jobs in Germany and close a plant in Belgium that employs 150 workers. This results from the impact of the Fukushima disaster and the decision taken in some countries, as Germany, for a nuclear power phase-out.
Update: On the 13th of December 2011 the group gave more details of a drastic cost saving plan. Areva will increase the announced job cuts of 1,200 to 1,500 positions in Germany (see here), close a plant in Belgium (160 employees) and reduce its workforce in France (see here) by natural departures of 200 to 250 employees per year until 2016. This will add up to 1000 to 1250 departures in France by 2016.
The downsizing will affect support functions (8,000 employees worldwide). Areva is also expecting to close two sites in the US, but this has yet to be confirmed. Areva's CEO had announced, after discussions with the French Prime Minister in mid-November 2011, that the company would not dismiss employees in France.
The European Works Council has requested Areva to refrain from implementing any measures before it was fully informed and consulted.
Eurofound (2011), Areva, Internal restructuring in European Union, factsheet number 72600, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/72600.