Type
Internal restructuring
Country
Netherlands
Region
Location of affected unit(s)
Sector
Transportation / Storage
Land, Water And Air Transportation
Land Transport And Transport Via Pipelines
49.10 - Passenger rail transport, interurban

2,300 jobs
Number of planned job losses
Job loss
Announcement Date
29 June 2020
Employment effect (start)
Foreseen end date

Description

Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS), the Dutch railway company, plans to cut 2,300 jobs over the next 4 years.

The number of passengers has dropped dramatically, as a result of the economic downturn and changing travelling patterns caused by COVID-19. NS expects it will take at least until 2024 before the number of passengers is back at the level of 2019. The reorganisation is deemed necessary to keep the company financially healthy until then.

Jobs will be cut in all parts of the company and the cuts are expected to be realised through natural attrition, as 2500 employees are set to retire before the year 2025. Retraining of employees may be part of the reorganisation plan since there is no one-to-one correpondence between functions of people retiring and functions being cancelled.

Employee representatives said they were in shock upon hearing the plans, stating it seemed like NS is trying to move the costs of the COVID-19 on to the employees.


Sources

Citation

Eurofound (2020), NS, Internal restructuring in Netherlands, factsheet number 101135, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/101135.