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.
Some 600 workers will be laid off at VMZ Sopot as an agreement has been reached between the trade unions and the company’s management.
The company has suffered troubling financial conditions in the last few years. The employees have not received their payments on time in the past 18 months. Two weeks ago the privatization procedure for the plant fell through, after the only bidder failed to submit a mandatory deposit alongside the bid.
The management insisted on dismissing 900 employees but after negotiations with the unions the number was reduced to 600. Since the beginning of January some 60 employees have voluntarily left the company. The Bulgarian Labour Minister stated that a total of 225 employers in the Plovdiv district have declared their readiness to fill 400 vacancies for redundant workers in private companies.
The state-owned Vazovski Mashinistritelni Zavodi (VMZ) located in town Sopot, employs 3700 workers and is the biggest company of the military and industrial complex in the country. VMZ Sopot produces anti-tank guided and unguided missiles, aviation unguided missiles, artillery ammunition and fuses. It also manufactures civilian products – diamond tools, abrasive discs and grinding wheels, gas cylinders, food industry equipment, and household appliances.
Eurofound (2013), VMZ Sopot, Internal restructuring in Bulgaria, factsheet number 74866, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/74866.