In an extraordinary meeting of the works council the management of the Philips Lighting Turnhout plant announced a transfer of the production of LED-lighting to Asia. As a consequence 354 jobs will be cut. The unions criticized this decision: the plant is profitable and wages costs are low (4-6% of the total costs). Philips, maker of consumer electronics, medical equipment, and lighting systems, announced the first round of 4,500 job cuts in Europe in October 2011 and negotiations are still underway regarding a social plan for that plan. In September 2012 the central management in the Netherlands said another 2,200 jobs would be cut, mainly in the lighting units in Europe, but the company refused at that time to indicate where. After Eindhoven, Roosendaal, Lommel, Turnhout and Winschoten the Belgian and Dutch unions fear a ‘domino-effect’ all over Europe.
English: http://in.reuters.com/finance/stocks/PHG.N/key-developments/article/2605679
Dutch: http://trends.knack.be/economie/nieuws/bedrijven/philips-vakbonden-laken ...
http://www.fnvbondgenoten.nl/nieuws/nieuwsarchief/2012/november ...
Focus on the social dialogue at Philips Lighting: http://tradeunionfreedom.fnvcompanymonitor.nl/perch/resources ...
For more information, please contact the editor Jan Cremers, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) cbn-aias@uva.nl or the communications officer at the ETUI, Mariya Nikolova mnikolova@etui.org. For previous issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit http://www.etui.org/E-Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net.