Chemical firm Vynova convenes its works council today and unions are bracing for the worst
After almost a year of court protection and two weeks of standstill, around 600 workers in Tessenderlo-Ham fear for their jobs.
A special works council meets today at chemical company Vynova in Tessenderlo-Ham. Unions expect management to announce a bankruptcy filing there, Made in and VRT NWS reported. Around 600 people work for Vynova Belgium and the smaller unit Vynova Advanced Organics. On Monday, according to VRT NWS, more than 500 employees marched from the factory gate through the centre of Tessenderlo.
The company has been under protection from its creditors since the start of the year and, according to VRT NWS, owes more than 275 million euros. The search for a buyer made little progress, and high energy costs have kept production at a complete standstill for two weeks. Last Friday staff mobile phone contracts were cancelled, which workers took as a bad omen.
Yannick Urbain of the ABVV chemicals union in Limburg points in Made in to main shareholder ICIG, which he says has pulled hundreds of millions of euros out of the companies. Mayor Marc Heselmans (CD&V) also accuses the shareholders of walking away once things got difficult. There is reportedly a possible buyer for Vynova Advanced Organics, which has around a hundred jobs, though that offers no guarantee that all of them will be kept. ACV and ABVV are asking the Flemish and federal governments to work actively for a restart, citing the rescue of Volvo Cars.