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.
The US-owned multinational aluminium company Alcoa has announced the closure of its plant in San Cibrao (Lugo), affecting up to 534 employees. The company explained that the high energy costs and the low price of aluminium, along with global overcapacity, have caused significant losses that are expected to continue, making the closure inevitable. To discuss the sustainability of the plant, Alcoa and worker representatives have already started an informal period of consultations lasting approximately three weeks. The formal period of negotiation for the announced collective dismissal is about to begin after it. The president of the workers' council of the Alcoa plant in Lugo has demanded partial nationalisation of the company by the Spanish government.
This announcement comes after the company announced in 2018the closure of two other plants in Spain (in Áviles and Coruña), although they were finally acquired by the Parter group and later resold to the Riesgo group.
Currently, the company employs around 2,000 workers in Spain.
Update 28/10/2021: The Supreme Court has declared that the collective redundancy that Alcoa plans to implement at the San Cibrao plant (Lugo) is invalid. The unions welcome the decision. However, they assure the only solution guaranteeing the maintenance of the activity is that the National Government acquire the factory through the SEPI (state entity of industrial stakes) to sell it to a third party.
Eurofound (2020), Alcoa, Closure in Spain, factsheet number 100763, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/100763.
Eurofound’s ERM restructuring legislation database offers an overview of key restructuring-related regulations in the EU Member States and Norway. Its content is continuously updated to reflect any changes made by national legislators in response to, for instance, policy shifts, legal...
Can Europe still achieve its ambitions for battery manufacturing? To answer this, the article looks at data from Eurofound’s European Restructuring Monitor and explores what recent large-scale restructuring events reveal about the state of play in the EU battery sector.
This working paper offers a comprehensive methodological overview of the European Restructuring Monitor (ERM) databases. Even though the methodology has not changed over time, new categories have been added, and the way it has been used by researchers and policymakers...
This Eurofound research paper explores key trends in restructuring in recent years, highlighting the companies that announced the largest job losses and job gains in the EU. It builds on an analysis of company announcements recorded in Eurofound’s European Restructuring...
In 2023, thousands of workers in big tech lost their jobs. Meta, Amazon, Google, Apple, Microsoft and Salesforce had been considered to offer good and secure jobs up to this point. Giants of the information and communication technology (ICT) sector,...
In 2024, the automotive sector in the EU came to the fore in public and policy discussions. The focus was on the slowdown in electric vehicle (EV) sales, rising global competition, belated investments in new technologies, and the potential closure...
