Organon works council takes Merck to court over job losses

Friday 30 July 2010

The works council at drugs company Organon in Oss is going to court in protest at the decision to shut down production and move some work to the US, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Friday.

The council says it was not consulted about the plans to move R&D to the US and close some production lines, resulting in the loss of 2,175 out of 4,500 jobs. By law, the works council should have been asked for its advice.

'The works council was not asked for its recommendations prior to the July 8 announcement of the reorganisation and could not have any influence on it,' council member Iris van Dinther told the FD.

Sale

The council was aware that a decision was being taken about the future of the Oss plant 'but we were not informed about the contents', she said.

Owner Merck, known as MSD in Europe, was not available for comment, the paper said.

Regional paper BN/DE Stem reports MSD is planning to sell off parts of the Oss operation to third parties.

Israeli firm Teva Pharma has pulled out of the talks but Germany's Bayer and Janssen Pharmaceutica (part of Johnson & Johnson) have been invited to make offers, the paper says.

© DutchNews.nl

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