Today it was announced that Tata Steel in IJmuiden is cutting 800 jobs. According to the company, the measure taken is necessary to remain competitive. Such a mass layoff is not the first time: the steel company has a long history of major staff cuts. The origins of the layoffs have varied over the years, it appears.
According to Tata Steel, the steel market has been struggling for some time and in order to remain competitive and profitable in the future, the steel producer wants to further reduce personnel costs. The company announced this this afternoon. This concerns 500 jobs, mainly in management positions, and 300 positions for both temporary workers and open vacancies. Currently, approximately 9,000 people are employed at the factory.
25 days of promotion
Mass layoffs have been announced more frequently in the past ten years. For example, the steel company in IJmuiden announced in September 2020 that it was carrying out a reorganization. A total of them then disappeared 850 jobs. The announcement caused an uproar within and outside the company. Both the Works Council (OR) and the FNV trade union found the news ‘completely’ unclear and unacceptable.
They returned to an agreement reached two months earlier, in which it was agreed that there would be no compulsory redundancies until 2026. After 25 days of action, Tata Steel and the unions reached this agreement. The actions were historic: for the first time in 28 years, production at the steel giant was halted in an attempt to gain more certainty from management.
The riot is exemplary of the state of affairs surrounding other dismissals. The different parties are often directly opposed to each other. Like this turns out even today. The Works Council speaks of failed policy and says that the bill for this will fall on the staff.
Also a mass layoff November 18, 2019 caused a lot of commotion. Angry employees of the steel company then argued promotion(s) for days.
Dismissed from the table
The cause of the announced mass layoffs was a decline in profits that mainly affected the parent group in India. In the European branch alone, 830 million euros were cut, of which 170 million had to come from savings on personnel. Tata wanted to get the rest from cheaper purchases of ore and coal.
The various parties also disagreed about the cause of the decline in profits. According to European CEO Henrik Adam, the steel factory in IJmuiden was no longer ‘leading’, while the works council of Tata Steel in IJmuiden blamed the expensive bureaucracy at the European headquarters. Tata’s British branch has also been performing poorly for years. In any case, IJmuiden’s employees did not leave it at that and chose to attack. And with success: the decision was partial reversed.
In September 2011 the steel group cut its workforce and cut 1,000 full-time jobs, including 900 of their own employees. The job reduction was part of a so-called ‘improvement program’. A long-term program that was launched to combat the stagnation of the European steel industry. But the strong and rapid rise in raw material prices also played a role.
Employment pact
With today’s announcement, a mass layoff seems inevitable. This may also concern forced redundancies. And it is precisely that point that dismays the works council and FNV. They both refer to the Employment Pact that is included in the collective labor agreement, which states, among other things, that there may be no forced dismissals. They indicate that they will not simply let this pass and will have ‘intrusive’ discussions with the management of the steel company in the coming periods.