Agreement reached on restructuring at SABIC Polyolefins
After three months of constructive discussion and negotiation between the management and the Works Council of SABIC Polyolefins at Gelsenkirchen (Germany), the two sides have reached a reconciliation of interests and agreed on a social plan.
Out of the planned 200 jobs, only 175 will now be cut. Arrangements have been agreed to help cushion the impact for employees. Redundancies will in principle be avoided as far as possible by people taking early retirement, the anticipated availability of jobs at SABIC in the Netherlands or staff moving to a so-called Transfergesellschaft, which helps them find new jobs.
The Works Council and management have this morning notified staff at SABIC Polyolefins of the results reached. Next, all employees will be informed about the consequences for them personally.
"Perspective 2010 is a painful but necessary restructuring program for the company to become competitive. It will assure the company a long-term perspective", underlines Frans Noteborn, CEO of SABIC Europe. "To meet our goal of being number one in Europe, the site has to work to full capacity and we've got to achieve a competitive cost position.
The organizational and technical changes will affect all units of SABIC Polyolefins at Gelsenkirchen", points out Jan van den Berg, Managing Director at Gelsenkirchen. "The initial phase will concern all changes to optimize the existing site. The second phase will follow when the site is extended with the construction of a new plant for the production of bimodal polyethylene."
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