The dust seems to have settled at Villeroy & Boch. Just five weeks ago the ceramics manufacturer sparked furore among politicians and trade unions with its announcement that it was to end production in Luxembourg. But on Thursday, 23 April, the company’s management and union representatives held what they called the first constructive talks on the immediate future of the 230 employees at the production facility who stand to lose their jobs.

One major breakthrough was the resolving of a communication problem – unions had claimed just two weeks ago that Villeroy & Boch had reneged on a promise not to lay off any staff in Luxembourg until next year. But, as Luxembourg site manager Charles-Antoine de Theux confirmed at a joint press conference on Thursday, there will be no redundancies before 2010. This, said LCGB industrial relations representative Marcel Goerend, will provide the required serenity to allow programmes to be put in place to help workers retrain and look for new jobs. Alain Mattioli of the OGBL said that although it was too early to talk about solutions, the fact that workers have a guaranteed salary until January 2010 means that the negotiators can try and be innovative in their approach to finding new employment opportunities. “The talks have made progress and been respectful on both sides. The atmosphere in the company is calmer and the immediate pressure is off,” said Mattioli. “We know the redundancies are inevitable, but with proper exchange of communication we can help people who previously thought their voice was not being heard.”

In addition to being placed on chômage partiel, employees will be granted an extra six day of leave to allow them to attend interviews and training courses. An internal cellule de reclassement will also assist workers in finding new employment and Villeroy & Boch is also looking to “insource” some services that were previously performed externally to allow workers to remain in employment as long as possible.

No real estate speculation

There has so far been no concrete progress on plans for the future use of the Rollingergrund site, even though the most obvious solution would be for a housing project once the factories have been dismantled. But de Theux dismissed suggestions made in some quarters that Villeroy & Boch had taken its decision to cease manufacturing in order to make a real estate profit. “We would not make more than 900 people redundant worldwide, nor would we have invested millions in the Luxembourg site over a period of years, just for a real estate deal,” he said. “And we certainly would not do that in today’s real estate market.”

De Theux blamed demographic and social changes – fewer wedding lists, smaller homes with less need for large dinner services – as well as the flood of cheap imports since 2005 for the current plight of the ceramics industry in Europe. He likened the turmoil the industry is undergoing to the sort suffered by quality Swiss watch makers in the 1970s. “Like them, fine tableware we will make a comeback,” said De Theux. “But only those who survive now will be in a position to take advantage of an upturn in the future.”