16 October 2008

BRUSSELS -- More than 500 employees working in various companies in Belgium are facing layoffs.

The companies range from different sectors such as DAF Trucks to Janssen Pharmaceutica.

Janssen Pharmaceutica
 Pharmaceuticals giant Janssen Pharmaceutica is to scrap 154 jobs across its three sites in Olen, Beerse and Geel which are all located in Antwerp province.

The company stresses that none of the employees involved will be forced to take redundancy and alternative jobs will be found for those who stay with the company.

Nyrstar
At Nyrstar, 205 employees who work in Balen (Antwerp province) and Overpelt (Limburg province) are being retrenched.

In the Balen office, 129 blue collar and 26 white collar workers are to lose their jobs while in Overpelt, 41 blue collar and 9 white collar jobs are being layoff.

The trades unions at Nyrstar say that company has inflicted a "social bloodbath" on its workers.

Philips, DAF and DuPont
The electronics giant Philips has announced that it will not renew the contracts of 160 temporary staff at its bulb factory in Turnhout (Antwerp province), following a drop in sales figures.

DuPont de Nemours, who has a workforce of 1,000 people, has announced 50 job cuts at its Mechelen (Antwerp province) factory. Forty temporary staff will not have their contracts renewed in the paint department and another 10 will face a similar fate in the plastics department at the factory.

Production is to be cut at the DAF Trucks plant in Oevel (Antwerp province). The company says its decision to cut staff is due to a fall in demand for lorries. It has yet to announce how many employees will be retrenched.

About 1,700 people, including 400 temporary staff work at DAF's Oevel factory.

[flandersnews.be / Expatica]