500 jobs are to disappear at several Barry Callebaut plants in Belgium.  The chocolate producer made the announcement to a special works council this week. The reorganisation follows a large-scale cost-cutting exercise by the Swiss chocolate producer.

Swiss chocolate giant Barry Callebaut plans to cut 2,500 jobs worldwide, including 900 in Europe. In September, the company revealed that, in addition to major investments, it wanted to take action to improve efficiency. “Even then we feared that this would have an impact on staff,” says Hilde Verhelst of Christian trade union ACV Food and Services. “But that the job losses would be extensive, we did not expect that.”

In Belgium, the decision will affect three plants: in Wieze (Lebbeke), Lokeren (both East Flanders) and Halle (Flemish Brabant). At the East Flanders sites in Wieze, home to the largest chocolate factory in the world, and in Lokeren, the company plans to cut a total of 249 white-collar jobs and 62 blue-collar jobs, Verhelst explains. In Halle there are job losses for 160 blue- and 19 white-collar workers.

“Incomprehensible”

The Renault procedure for collective redundancies that requires companies to explore ways of reducing job losses has been initiated. The unions still hope to reduce the job losses by European and local negotiations. “We don’t think redundancies are the answer. For 30 years now the right measures have not been taken,” Verhelst adds. It’s not yet clear what actions the unions intend to take but “staff are really perplexed.”

Last financial year, Barry Callebaut’s profits rose by 20 per cent. “A company that sees profits growing and still chooses to make redundancies? That is incomprehensible,” responds Kurt Marysse of the liberal trade union ACLVB. “The workforce is the victim of distressing management amateurism. In recent years it has done nothing about the problems we have raised.”