Type
Internal restructuring
Country
Estonia
Region
Eesti; Põhja-Eesti;
Location of affected unit(s)
Harku and Vihterpalu
Sector
Manufacturing
Manufacture Of Food And Beverage
Manufacture Of Food Products
10.2 - Processing and preserving of fish, crustaceans and molluscs

50 - 125 jobs
Number of planned job losses
Job loss
Announcement Date
6 December 2019
Employment effect (start)
14 December 2019
Foreseen end date
31 December 2019

Description

In the beginning of December 2019, M.V.Wool, an Estonian exporting fish processing company, gave a short notice that 125 of their 140 employees will be made redundant by the end of the year. In March 2019, M.V.Wool was associated with several bacteria outbreaks caused by listeria bacterium in several countries. As cleansing and sterilising the facilities have not improved the production and could not sustain the health requirements, the Estonian Veterinary and Food Board have ordered the termination of the activity, including production, mediation, storage, import and export of raw material and goods. 15 people will remain employed to work on the conditions and business recovery.

The Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund has been notified by the company of the collective redundancy. The employee information and consultation process prescribed by law ended on 14 December 2019, when M.V.Wool began the lay-off proceedings. The company is cooperating with the Unemployment Insurance Fund and has promised to fully support the affected employees.

The company was established in 1994.

Update 10/01/2019:Both production plants of the company, in Harku and Vihterpalu, were thoroughly cleansed and sterilised and no new positive listeria samples were found. Therefore, in January 2020, the Estonian Veterinary and Food Board allowed further exploitation of both facilities. This decision means that the company will withdraw its collective dismissals programme. However, around 50 workers are dismissed due to reduced production. The plant in Vihterpalu was set back for exploitation on 2 January 2020 and the Harku plant on 10 January 2020. If the company restore its previous production levels, it may rehire the dismissed staff.


Sources

Citation

Eurofound (2019), M.V.Wool, Internal restructuring in Estonia, factsheet number 99364, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/99364.