Strike against dismissals at potato starch group

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Employees at Avebe, the potato starch group in the Netherlands, came out on strike on 20 September. They are striking in protest against the intended dismissal of 400 colleagues. The board of management of the company, a company which has been affected by reorganisation for some time, asserts that there are no other options in light of dwindling revenues. In a bid to break the strike, the company appealed to the subdistrict court. The court ruled that the strike was lawful and the strike continued. In the end an agreement was reached between the parties on 6 October. The 148 employees for whom approval for dismissal had been requested, will be given 15 more months in the company’s employ during which Avebe can actively seek alternative employment.

Employees at Avebe, the potato starch group in the Netherlands, came out on strike on 20 September at an establishment in Foxhol. All four Avebe establishments soon joined the strike. The strike was sparked off as a result of the intended dismissal of 400 employees. Requests for dismissal have been submitted for 148 and a further 118 employees will face the same fate in December. Out of a total of 1,300 employees, some 400 will have to go in the course of a year. The Dutch Trade Union Federation (Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging, FNV) is backing the strike and the Christian Trade Union Federation (Christelijk Nationaal Vakverbond, CNV) and De Unie are not. The latter two unions support Avebe in its need to resize in order to survive. The potato suppliers are also against the strike. They have come out in protest since their potatoes have been left to rot and they are suffering a financial loss as a result of the strike.

Initially FNV, which represents two-thirds of the employees, cooperated within the context of the redundancy, social plan. The plan limited the number of redundancies to 100 (instead of 300) employees through internal redeployment, early retirement and creating extra employment, and by regulating hired-in labour internally. This soocial plan will cost the company EUR 20 million. In the end, CNV and De Unie agreed to the redundancy plan; wanting a social plan for five years, FNV did not. CNV and De Unie are confident that Avebe is willing to re-employ people and that it would assist the employees facing dismissal to find alternative employment. Of the 148 dismissed employees, only 26 have become unemployed and of the 118 facing a similar fate in December, only 30 have yet to find alternative employment. This was not good enough for FNV. FNV urged for the first 148 forced redundancy requests to be withdrawn, so that the redundancy plan could depart from a premise of zero forced redundancies. FNV wanted every effort to be made to retain everyone’s jobs. According to FNV, if this were to prove impossible within the space of a year, a scenario involving forced redundancies would be unavoidable.

According to the management board, the potato starch company is suffering from diminishing subsidies, the low dollar rate and declining revenues in a difficult market. The reorganisation initiated in 2002 has already resulted in 300 job losses. In the 2003/04 financial year the company generated a marginal profit of EUR 400,000 on a total turnover of EUR 700 million. Because the company’s management board considered the strike unlawful (it has cost the company EUR 2 million a day), summary proceeding were instituted. However, the court ruled that the strike was lawful because hundreds of jobs were hanging in the balance. FNV resumed the strike. In the end agreement was reached between the parties on 6 October, whereby the 148 employees for whom approval for dismissal had been requested, will be given 15 more months in the company’s employ during which Avebe can actively seek alternative employment.

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