Beaulieu wants to close the Komense yarn department

It concerns the heatset department, where yarn is spun by twisting it and then fixing it with heat. In Belgium, 37 employees work in this department, the heatset department in France has 45 employees.

The affected personnel may be able to work elsewhere within the company. “We have many open vacancies in both Belgium and France. If the intention to regroup is confirmed, we assume that the staff can remain within the company,” said spokeswoman Sara Geris. It is not yet clear whether this will be possible under the same wage conditions and is part of the planned social consultation. Beaulieu says it will work for “a constructive dialogue” with “appropriate solutions”.

Both the Belgian and French sites are experiencing “significantly” lower activity levels this year, Beaulieu says. This is while the group’s yarn division has “suffered hard” in the residential market from cheaper competition from Asia and energy and raw material prices have risen. According to Geris, Beaulieu chose to transfer the Belgian activities to the French location, mainly because of the energy prices. “Heatset is very energy intensive and energy prices are lower in France,” the spokeswoman said. In addition, the French site is “more spacious”.