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.
Unicoop Tirreno, Italian cooperative supermarket chain based in Piombino (Livorno), announced the layoff of 600 part-time workers (481 full-time equivalent jobs) in centre and southern Italy. The job cuts are part of the 2017-2019 business plan, that aims at cutting labour costs by about € 9 million in a effort to reverse the current budget deficit. The cost reduction will be also implemented by discontinuing additional pay currently granted by company-level collective agreements.
The layoffs will affect personnel employed in stores, primarily those employed in Tuscany, and will result in the closure of 12 stores and the sale of another 8 stores. Unions announced strikes as they deem the plan unacceptable for its severe social consequences and the absence of measures to revamp the company.
The cooperative employs about 4,000 employees and manages 109 groceries and supermarkets in Tuscany, Campania, Umbria and Latium.
Update 11/05/2017: Unions and the management reached an agreement entailing temporary wage cuts and the use of temporary layoff schemes in order to freeze the job cuts for one year. In the meanwhile, the company will offer up to € 30,000 to those intended to voluntarily leave the company over the next two years. According to media sources, about 300 workers declared an interest in the option.
Eurofound (2017), Unicoop Tirreno, Internal restructuring in Italy, factsheet number 90127, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/90127.