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.
In July 2008, the Austrian Siemens Österreich subsidiary announced plans to cut 500 out of its then 8,000 jobs as part of the Siemens group current worldwide restructuring programme. On 26 September 2008, management and the works council agreed on a further redundancy programme affecting additional 350 employees. The redundancies will affect, in particular, the sales and administration departments across the country. According to the newspaper 'Der Standard', a social plan has been concluded, in order to carry out the necessary redundancies in a ‘socially acceptable’ way, by, for instance, providing severance pay schemes, early retirements, flexible part-time solutions for older employees, outsourcing and internal job rotation. Prior to the negotiations over a social plan, both the trade unions and the works council had said they do not understand the motives behind this restructuring, since the company has yielded profits for years.
Eurofound (2008), Siemens Österreich, Internal restructuring in Austria, factsheet number 66847, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/66847.