This case study focuses on the measures used by ArcelorMittal to cut costs and avoid involuntary redundancies during the crisis in its largest Romanian subsidiary. The study aims to assess the effectiveness of the various measures applied to keep staff in employment and to ensure the company’s...

This report focuses on how Dexia Bank Belgium has responded to the considerable challenges resulting from the financial and economic crisis, and how the transformation of its workforce has been managed under these circumstances. It specifically emphasises the role of the social partner...

This case study demonstrates how Danske Bank, one of the largest banks in northern Europe, has dealt with the impact of the financial crisis. It also shows how it has coped with longer term restructuring requirements arising from rapid expansion and internationalisation of the bank, the...

ProAct is a £48 million programme launched by the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) in response to the economic crisis. Through social partner engagement, the Welsh Assembly Government developed and implemented the ProAct initiative in a matter of two to three months with the aim of helping...

This case study looks at the way in which the Plansee Group in Austria has sought to ensure a ‘soft landing’ for employees affected by the global economic downturn. Having seen a collapse in demand in 2008, primarily in the parts of its business supplying metal products to the ailing vehicle...

BAWAG PSK is an Austrian banking group historically closely aligned with the trade union movement. The bank has faced numerous financial and political challenges in recent years, linked in a number of cases to unsound financial investments leading to significant exposure to failed or struggling...

This report examines some of the ways in which the social partners have been involved in anticipating and managing change – namely, through their establishment or close participation in ‘transitional agencies’ and other structures set up to minimise the negative consequences of...

The collapse of package-holiday giant XL Leisure Group made front-page news in September 2008, with tens of thousands of British holidaymakers stranded in airports across Europe and hundreds of employees made redundant. As the company’s assets were frozen, flights grounded and holidays...

Since climate change has become an important subject on the international agenda, CO2-neutral energy sources are becoming increasingly popular as well. Among the companies that have benefited from this development is the Danish wind turbine manufacturing company, Vestas. Over the last century,...

In the Basque Country (País Vasco) in the north of Spain, the local government understood the economic potential of having a strong and innovative energy sector as early as the mid-1990s. Together with key energy players, they established Cluster de Energia, or the Basque Energy Cluster. The...