ITF Unions in Maersk
Shipyard to cut up to 250 jobs
17 June 2008
Day of sorrow, said shop steward after the release of new cost-cutting plan at Maersk yard
The AP Moller-Maersk-owned Odense Steel Shipyard has announced the dismissal of up to 250 employees.
The lay-offs have been planned in order to save money. Talks between worker representatives and management about an agreement ended without results.
Senior shop steward Lars Hansen said it was a “day of sorrow” when the lay-offs where announced on 4 June: “I had preferred that we could have agreed on a cost-reducing plan without redundancies. I feel very bad about this. I am sorry that our cost-cutting proposal was not good enough for the board of directors,” Hansen said, according to Danish newspaper Politiken.
Maersk said that the shipyard was facing a difficult financial situation in a market with hard competition. “In order to strengthen the possibility of survival in the long term... it is necessary that the yard's expenses be markedly reduced,” the company said in a statement.
The shipyard has built many of Maersk Line’s container vessels, including the Emma Maersk, the largest container vessel in the world.
The Odense yard has been under financial pressure for years. Earlier this year Maersk denied ongoing rumours of a sale of the shipyard. Some 3,000 workers are currently employed at Odense shipyard.
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