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.
Information / Communication Information Communication Services Telecommunications 61.20 - Wireless telecommunications activities
120 jobs Number of planned job losses
Announcement Date
6 August 2022
Employment effect (start)
1 August 2022
Foreseen end date
Description
OT- Optima Telekoma, which is owned by Telemach, the local unit of Dutch multi-play and media provider United Group, announced on 6 August 2022 the lay-off of 120 workers as a part of its restructuring plan. In January 2022, Croatian telco Hrvatski Telekom and Zagrebacka Banka sold their 54.31% stake in fixed internet and pay-tv services provider OT-Optima Telekom to Telemach Hrvatska. Telemach, on behalf of United Group, had announced its intention to invest €130 million in modernising mobile network to improve the quality, expand the coverage and offer a full 5G experience to its customers. It was also going to invest €100 million to build a fiber optic network on which to deliver super-fast, high speed broadband internet. However, only half a year after the purchase and the investment announcement, as a part of a restructuring plan, mass layoffs of 120 of Optima Telekom's 300 workers were initiated. Until now, some workers have been offered personally conditional dismissal, but nowadays the collective redundancy procedure has started.
The Croatian Telecommunications Trade Union (CTTU) has hired a law firm that has been involved in monitoring the acquisition process. The CTTU firmly believes that such behaviour is contrary to recent judicial practice and EU directives, especially the Directive 2001/23 on Transfers of Undertakings. The CTTU will provide legal protection to all its members.
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.
