Paper factory Crown van Gelder is known in Velsen-Noord as a committed and social company, but the new American bosses are taking a different path after yesterday’s restart: they are sweeping the existing collective labor agreement for the company’s employees off the table.
The factory ‘just belongs’ in Velsen-Noord, so people on the street said when they heard that Crown Van Gelder is definitely making a new start. “It is the oldest and most social company in the village,” said Leo Aardenburg, an entrepreneur and council member on behalf of Levendig en Gezond Velsen.
Shortly after filing for bankruptcy last January, an employee in the company’s parking lot praised the management’s treatment of its employees. “It’s a top company that listens to the people,” he said at the time.
Reputation is not honored
EPAC Technlogies, the United States company that took over the paper mill, got off to a good start with the promise to every employee of the Velsen-Nordic factory a wage increase of 7 percent.
But with the decision to sweep the collective labor agreement off the table, EPAC does not do justice to the good reputation of the paper mill, according to a union official Miriam van Leussen.
Employee participation is at stake
“Instead there will be an employee handbook. That is not even finished yet, and yet the employees must already confirm themselves when they sign their new contract. If the management does not want a salary increase at all next year, wants to adjust leave arrangements or change other conditions , they can decide that unilaterally.”
Van Leussen is afraid that the say and participation of the employees of Crown Van Gelder are at stake: “We call on the new employer to take over the collective labor agreement and to sit down with us for a new one. EPAC has said from the start that it will do the best for have with the employees of Crown Van Gelder. The best thing for employees is a company with a collective labor agreement.”