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.
Belgian multinational company Bekaert announced the closure of its production site in Figline e Incisa Valdarno and the dismissal of all 318 employees. The plant produces steel wires for tires and it was acquired by Beckaert from Pirelli in 2014. The acquisition contract entailed an obligation to mantain employment levels unaltered, but the clause expired on 31 December 2017.
According to the company, the plant was not sufficiently profitable and had higher production costs compared other plants in the EMEA region. The closure of the Italian production site will enable stronger investments in the Rumenian plant of the company, located in Slatina.
The company expressed its willingness to find solutions to limit the social impact of the decision. Workers occuppied the plant to protest against the decision.
Bekaert employs 30,000 workers worldwide and 600 in Italy.
Update, 03/10/2018: An agreement between Bekaert, the trade unions and Tuscany's regional government was reached on October, 3, 2018 concerning the planned dismissal of Bekaert's workers in Figline e Incisa Valdarno and the reindustrialisation of the production site. The agreement entails the continuation of production activities and therefore the payment of employees' salaries by Bekaert until December 31, 2018, and the activation of social shock absorber instruments (CIGS for the end of production activities) from January, 1 to December 31, 2019, which ensure the payment of an indemnity and the continuation of the employment contract for one year, even if production activities will cease.
Moreover, the company agreed to promote reindustrialisation projects by new investors by discounting the selling price of the site by €40,000 for each re-hired worker. Also the regional government committed to support the projects of new investors through activities of staff retraining and incentives for the relocation of dismissed workers in the amount of €10,000 for each newly recruited employee by entrepreneurs in Figline and the surrounding areas. The agreement also foresees that Bekaert will report quarterly to the Government, the Region and the trade unions on the state of implementation of the re-hiring and re-industrialization plan.
A parallel agreement was signed by Bekaert and the trade unions and the company entailing the conditions for granting incentives to employees voluntarily leaving the company. Agreed incentives range from 6 months of salary for employees with less than 15 years of seniority to 24 months for those employed since more than 25 years.
Update, 21/10/2019: The multinational company Bekeart will opt for the dismissal of the 200 workers still receiving the social shock absorber (CIGS) negotiated on October 3, 2018. For over a year, with the support of a specialised advisor and in close collaboration with institutions and unions, Bekaert has been implementing the interventions indicated in the agreement. Positive results have been achieved in terms of relocations, but contacts initiated with potential investors have not yet led to a concrete reindustrialisation proposal or to the presentation of a business plan capable of ensuring the employment of the remaining workers. Since it is therefore foreseeable that Bekaert Figline will still find itself in a situation of surplus employment at the end of 2019, Bekaert has started, as foreseen in the agreement of last October, the new collective dismissal procedure for personnel who will still be in force at December 31, 2019. The company will continue to carry out all the actions and interventions agreed with the unions and institutions, aimed at re-industrialising the site and replacing the workers.
Eurofound (2018), Bekaert, Offshoring/Delocalisation in Italy, factsheet number 94432, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/94432.
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