Organon workers challenge Merck on Dutch facility closure

Protests against the closures at Oss, the Netherlands. The banner reads “Profits grown, jobs cut”

Merck & Co's decision to close down the former Organon facility in Oss, the Netherlands, looks set to be challenged in the Dutch courts, according to local news reports.

The move will lead to the loss of 2,175 jobs out of a total Organon workforce of 4,500, split roughly half and half between production and R&D staff. Earlier this month around 1,000 workers at the site took to the streets to protest the closure.

Now, the facility's works council is claiming that Merck's plan to close some portions of the Oss operation and move other parts to the US has been carried out outside Dutch law, and plans to make its case in court in September.

Specifically the works council and supervisory board at Organon say they should have been consulted about the closure ahead of a decision being announced in order to have an opportunity to negotiate the plan.

Their position seems to have some sympathy from the Dutch government, which convened an emergency session during the summer break to debate the closure.

Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende is pushing for Merck to help soften the blow in Oss by contributing money and expertise for a science park. However, Minister of Economic Affairs Maria van der Hoeven made it clear last week that the government cannot intervene directly in the affairs of a multinational company.

The Oss plant was one of three in the Netherlands slated for closure as part of Merck's major restructuring of manufacturing and R&D facilities announced last month.

All told, the company intends to shut 16 facilities worldwide and cut more than 16,000 jobs in a bid to save around $3.5 billion a year from 2012.

Organon was an independent firm until 2007 when it was sold to Schering-Plough, which was in turn taken over by Merck at the end of 2009.

Phil Taylor