First it was the Works Council and the employees of Vredestein in Enschede who expressed their dissatisfaction. Today it was the turn of partners and children of the employees to demonstrate in front of the gate of Vredestein in Enschede against the dismissal plans of the management of the tire manufacturer.
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In Enschede there is a threat of dismissal of about seven hundred people, which is about three quarters of the total number of employees. The Works Council has already devised an alternative plan involving at most two hundred redundancies, but that has been dismissed by the management. The Works Council previously offered a petition to the House of Representatives, former employees showed their support during a gate campaign in Enschede. So today it was the turn of the family members.
Families behind the employees
The demonstration was set up by Danielle van der Plas. “My husband and son have been working at Vredenstein, my husband for 25 years. We want to show that behind these nearly 700 layoffs are whole families, who all live on the money they earn at Vredestein.” She came to Vredestein with her daughter and son-in-law.
Banners with texts such as ‘Vredestein 74 years of love and suffering but stripped naked within 4 months’ and ‘This business stinks’ must make clear to the management what they think of the layoffs. “They must see that we are all behind the employees, behind Vredestein and not behind the decision of Apollo.”
Reorganization
At the beginning of March, the plans of the management for a reorganization became clear. He wants to move part of the production to a location in Hungary. This plan was criticized by national and European politics, because that Hungarian factory was founded only a few years ago with 100 million euros in state aid.
That factory, which has been in operation since 2017, is now taking over work from Enschede. Vredestein, part of the Indian Apollo tire group, vowed that the factory in Hungary was never built to take the work out of Enschede and produce cheaper there. According to the management, this was a decrease in demand and now the corona crisis is added.
Only the production of more expensive car tires and agricultural tires remains in Enschede. According to the management, a necessary intervention because the production of ‘cheaper’ car tires in Enschede is not profitable.
Future
The layoffs will have major consequences, says Van der Plas. “Enschede is not a rich city, the jobs are not there for the taking. What does the future hold for everyone?”
Van der Plas doubts whether the board will lie awake from the action. “I don’t think so. They just continue their own way.”
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