ITF Unions in Maersk
Lindø not sacking as many as previously warned
8 July 2008
…but still cancels the annual pensioners’ party.
The Odense Steel Shipyard, Lindø, has made 150-160 of its shipyard workers redundant, less than the 250 it initially warned it would lay off.
Local media reports stated that 175 jobs are to go among hourly-paid workers at the Maersk-owned yard, 137 by redundancies. Others are going voluntarily and some yard suppliers and consultants have been cut as part of the cost-cutting drive.
Some 15-20 salaried staff are also being made redundant.
Helge Tesch of the engineers’ union tells the Fyens Stiftstidende newspaper that they had negotiated hard to offset the effects of the cuts. “All the employees who are due to stop by the end of the year, for example to retire, have been included in the figures. This is very positive and has reduced the number of redundancies considerably,” he says.
But the yard has aroused the anger of its retired employees by cancelling the annual party which usually attracts between 400-600 participants. Lindø wrote to ex-employees telling them it was scrapping this year’s party to save money. The party is quite a lavish affair, with live music, food and drink.
“I couldn’t give a stuff for all the numbers,” says retired shipyard worker Erik Nielsen to the paper. “The deficit is due to the fact that Maersk gets its ships too cheaply, not that we have an annual pensioners’ day.”
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