Angestellte Schweiz, notes with great concern that IHI Group (IHI Bernex AG) intends to lay off 35 of its 42 employees, thereby almost completely closing its Swiss site. The tasks previously carried out in Olten, Switzerland, particularly in the area of production, are to be taken over by employees at the Dutch site. Only a few employees from the research and development department and service technicians will remain at the Swiss site.
The announced measures raise fundamental questions, particularly with regard to the corporate values communicated by IHI Group itself. On the company website, under the heading ‘Taking responsibility’, the company commits itself to statements such as ‘taking care about our colleagues’ and ‘we take responsibility for everything we have and have not done’.
The planned job cuts are in obvious conflict with this.
This makes it all the more important that the planned job cuts are not implemented unilaterally, but with the involvement of the social partners. "It is important that employee representatives recognise that they can relieve themselves of some of the burden by seeking expert advice from employee associations and gain a professional outside perspective. We are ready to help with this," affirms Tanja Riepshoff, solicitor at Angestellte Schweiz. Angestellte Schweiz also calls on the management of IHI Group to fulfil its social responsibility.
This includes in particular:
- a binding social plan,
- fair and appropriate mitigation measures for those affected,
- serious and intensive efforts to provide employees affected by redundancies with comparable jobs in other IHI Group companies, e.g. Ionbond in Olten or Dulliken
- professional support with career reorientation,
- examination of alternative and innovative measures to avert redundancies
- transparent information and early dialogue with employees and employee representatives.
Socially acceptable solutions are crucial in order to minimise the consequences of the redundancies and open up new prospects for the employees affected. This may also include attractive early retirement solutions for employees whose chances on the labour market are slim due to the generally tense situation in the tech industry.
Angestellte Schweiz is available for discussions and expects IHI Group (IHI Bernex AG) to carry out the announced job cuts in a responsible manner and in the interests of its employees.
Contact
Tanja Riepshoff
Lawyer, Angestellte Schweiz
tanja.riepshoff@angestellte.ch, +41 44 360 11 54
Tanja Tanneberger
Communications, Angestellte Schweiz
tanja.tanneberger@angestellte.ch, +41 44 360 11 21
