NEXANS is a major French-based company, active in the cables and cabling business.

During the course of a long week-end in Belgium, and more specifically during the night of Thursday 17 May, local management – with the help of a transport company - took away all the stock and tools from the Huizingen factory to a subsidiary factory located in Slovakia. No previous announcement had been made to the workers and they were taken by surprise when they arrived back at work on Monday morning 21 May. When the workers discovered that all their stocks and tools had been removed from the factory by the management, they were desperate and furious.

It was only after strong pressure from the trade unions that local management convened an extraordinary local works council on the afternoon of Monday 21 May where it announced that the factory would partly close and that some 70 blue-collar workers would lose their jobs. Around 20 white-collar workers would keep their jobs for the time being.

The European Metalworkers’ Federation and the European Works Council of NEXANS are perplexed and incensed by this medieval and brutal act by NEXANS.

The European Metalworkers’ Federation and the European Works Council of NEXANS demand that the company take immediate steps to restore the stocks and tools to the Belgian plant. Following this, we also call on the company to enter into talks and negotiations at local level to discuss the situation and future of the NEXANS plant in Huizingen.

We also call for an extraordinary meeting of the EWC Select Committee to be convened, as well as a meeting of the European Works Council, as soon as possible.

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PRESS 32/2007

The EMF is the representative body defending the interests of workers in the European metal industry. The EMF has a mandate for the external representation and coordination of the metalworkers' unions and a mandate to engage in bargaining at European level.

For further information please contact:
Editor, Peter Scherrer, EMF General Secretary