Union loses case restart shrimp business – Financieele Dagblad (Registration)

The sale of the bankrupt Heiploeg to fishing company Parlevliet & amp; Van der Plas in 2014 complied with the rules. The rapid restart of the shrimp processor, which led to a staff shrinkage and a sharp deterioration in the terms of incumbent workers, is successful.

HH

This enables the magistrate of the court in Almelo Overijssel Tuesday in a case brought by the unions.

Flash Bankruptcy

The unions are disappointed by the court ruling. The FNV announced that it would appeal against this flash bankruptcy. Director Petra Zuidema: ‘I am sorely disappointed. We would have liked to ask the court had asked the European Court of Justice about the interpretation of the directive in the matter “transfer of undertaking”.

FNV Bondgenoten wanted the court would see the start as” transfer of undertakings “and that deterioration in employment conditions would be reversed by the bankrupt Heiploeg. “The production was halted for a moment, the organizational structure is the same, customers are still the same,” sums up Zuidema. That would mean that all employees maintain employment should have gone to the new owner.

Employment

The 210 employees who have gone into the restart have seen their working conditions deteriorate. They were eleven atv-days lost, the year-end bonus of 7.25% and they had to hand the irregularity charges. The old days lapsed. “Worsening of 15 to 30% per individual employee,” calculates Zuidema.

The judge does not agree with the image of ‘transfer of undertaking’. The companies Heiploeg only after the declaration of insolvency transferred to Parlevliet & amp; Van der Plas, says the court. “There is nothing proven abuse of the bankruptcy law.” The employees therefore have no right to retain their job or working conditions, the magistrate judge.

Resistance

The court’s decision was eagerly awaited. There is a lot of resistance to flash bankruptcies, against the use of silent

directors and by the start of a bankrupt company by old or new shareholders. The relaunch of nursery operator Estro and Schoenenreus caused a lot of commotion. According to the unions pre-packs are misused to reorganize troubled companies.

bill

In a pre-pack procedure is already spoken for pronouncing bankruptcy with potentially interested takeover candidates. This allows a company to bankruptcy after a quicker start with potentially higher yields, retaining customers and jobs. This process is controlled by silent administrators, the curator and a magistrate.

The use of silent administrators already happens in most Dutch courts. However, the procedure has no legal basis. There is a bill before the House. One of the points in it is that the court will soon may impose additional conditions to let the silent preparation went well. For example, the use of experts, the works council or the trade union.

Rabobank

Also at Heiploeg, the largest shrimp processor in Europe, beginning in 2014 were two silent administrators to work: Gerard Breuker and Peter Lettinga. The company from Groningen Zoutkamp collapsed under a debt of € 130 million, three banks were the shrimp company afloat for a long time:. Rabobank which owned 49% of the shares, ABN Amro and Landsbanki. But a cartel fine from Brussels marked the final blow for the company, that the fine of € 27 million not to spend knew.

In silence, the court appointed two administrators together with the banks went looking for a potential buyer. Parlevliet & amp; Van der Plas, by far the largest fishing company in the Netherlands, had the three interested parties the best bid. Two financial parties were swept aside

Restart

Parlevliet & amp; Van der Plas paid almost € 44 million for the restart. It was in particular stocks and debt portfolio of the Groningen shrimp processor. Heiploeg obtains the shrimp of 200 fishermen, peel it and then sells them to supermarket chains such as Albert Heijn and Jumbo. The company had a turnover of € 280 million in 2013.