In February, Barry Callebaut announced plans to cut over 500 jobs in Belgium, specifically at its branches in Wieze, Lokeren and Halle. However, due to changing market conditions and particularly high cocoa prices until the end of April, the impact of the job cuts now appears to be less significant.
Initially, 62 worker jobs were slated to be cut in the East Flemish branches, but it now seems that the number of naked redundancies will be reduced to a maximum of five, all in Wieze. Conversations for white-collar workers and executives, where 250 jobs are threatened, are still ongoing. The impact is expected to be greater in these roles due to the complexity of the exercise involving local, regional and global functions.
Dialogue between the company and its social partners in Wieze is described as constructive with plans to reduce inefficient structures while limiting the impact on affected employees. Discussions are also described as constructive in Halle where blue-collar job losses have potentially been significantly reduced. Further meetings are scheduled for the coming weeks to continue these discussions.
The liberal trade union ACLVB reports that the number of naked dismissals at Barry Callebaut’s East Flemish branches has been reduced from 62 to a maximum of 5. Additionally, socialist trade union BBTK describes the signals as “hopeful” in Halle where initially 178 out of 480 jobs were at risk but it seems that most or all of them have been saved.
