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.
Construction Construction Of Buildings And Infrastructure Engineering Construction Of Buildings 41 - Construction of buildings
200 jobs Number of planned job losses
Announcement Date
19 October 2007
Employment effect (start)
20 October 2007
Foreseen end date
Description
ZRE Katowicz, a Polish firm that operates in the construction sector, has dismissed 200 workers at its site in County Clare after it was found that the firm were not operating in compliance with Irish employment law. The firm, which had a contract at the ESB Moneypoint electricity power station in Country Clare, had their contract with ESB Moneypoint terminated after it was revealed that the company was underpaying its workers at the County Clare site. The issue came to light after a complaint by the Technical, Engineering and Electrical Union. The union claimed that the firm was paying its workers 5.20 EUR an hour, less than a third of the legally binding construction industry rate. The figures were disputed by ZRE Katowicz, but it admitted that an audit had uncovered ‘limited’ underpayments. ESB Moneypoint has stated that it was aware of a ‘number of outstanding issues’ in relation to ZRE Katowicz’s compliance with Irish labour and employment law. For additional information on the dispute between the workers and the ESB and the terms of deal please see in-depth analysis published on the European Industrial Relations Observatory (EIRO) - Polish workers secure jobs and back pay after dispute at electricity plant (14 January 2008).
Sources
20 October 2007: The Irish Times
Citation
Eurofound (2007), ZRE Katowicz, Other in Ireland, factsheet number 65948, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/65948.
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.
