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.
South East; Berkshire; Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire
Location of affected unit(s)
Reading
Sector
Manufacturing Manufacture Of Food And Beverage Manufacture Of Beverages 11.05 - Manufacture of beer
362 jobs Number of planned job losses
Announcement Date
12 February 2008
Employment effect (start)
12 February 2008
Foreseen end date
1 January 2010
Description
Scottish & Newcastle, a firm that operates in the brewing sector, has announced that it is to close its site in Reading in Berkshire with the loss of 362 jobs. The closure will be implemented by 2010, and production at the Berkshire site will be moved to other plants that the firm operates in the UK. The firm is currently in the process of being acquired by Heineken and Carlsberg, but it is not clear whether this is related to the restructuring announcement.
Management at Scottish & Newcastle attributed the closure to overcapacity in the UK brewing sector and the high costs associated with the Reading site. Trade union Unite described the decision as being motivated by ‘pure shareholder greed’. Trade union representatives are also due to meet managers at the firm to discuss the restructuring shortly. It is reported that the cost of closing the site will amount to approximately 22 million GBP.
Sources
12 February 2008: The Financial Times
12 February 2008: BBC News
Citation
Eurofound (2008), Scottish & Newcastle, Closure in United Kingdom, factsheet number 66317, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/66317.
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.
