Following the merger on 02 November 2015 between General Electric (GE) and Alstom Power & Grid, on 04 January 2016 GE announced a major European restructuring plan involving around 6,500 job losses. At that time an information and consultation procedure commenced with the Interim Representation Structure (IRS).* The procedure continued at a brisk pace with forty-five meetings being held and it ended at the start of June with the IRS rejecting the restructuring plan that it saw as excessive and geared more towards cost cutting than towards building an industrial project. German President of the IRS Kai Müller agreed to speak with Planet Labor about the past five months of intensive work, of the method being retained, the objectives that have been achieved and the disappointments that have arisen.
Complex restructuring, consultation under pressure. Just two months following closure of the merger process between GE and Alstom Power & Grid, GE announced a major restructuring plan for Europe with, in total, 6,500 jobs set to go. Most affected countries include Germany (1,700 jobs), Switzerland (1,300 jobs), and France (800 jobs). “The announcement was made on 04 January 2016 and we were officially called upon on the same day. On 12 January 2016 our first meeting was held between management representatives and the IRS’s twenty-five members from twenty countries as well as their deputies.
Do you have information to share with us?