Six dismissals from work at the Enos Phenol company in Kalo: “Individual dismissal for the same reason.”

Six employees at Ineos Phenol in Kalu will be laid off. According to trade unions ACV, ABVV and ACLVB, the chemical company does not respect regulations on mass dismissals. This was stated in a joint press release on Wednesday.

The layoffs were announced at a labor council meeting on Tuesday. There, Ineos Phenol management reported that it wanted to fire six employees immediately before the Christmas holidays. “They were called during the works council and asked to empty their cupboards,” the unions said.

Early last October, Ineos announced the withdrawal of the collective dismissal of 56 people. “The information and consultation phase provided for in the Reno Code has been discontinued,” the administration said at the time. “However, the need to reduce labor costs remains unabated.”

With the current dismissals, the unions believe that Ineos is not respecting the Renault Code. “It is clear that Ineos’s alternative course is to circumvent the legal procedures for collective dismissal,” the unions say. “The administration talks about ‘individual dismissals’ for economic reasons. We note that this relates to collective dismissals: that is, six individual dismissals for the same reason.”

Because Ineos does not follow the legislation in the eyes of the unions, it says it is “taking steps with the government and the inspectorate.” The unions condemn “the salami policy that has already eliminated 40 jobs, with alternative options available.”

Production of phenol, a basic chemical product, has been halted at Kalo for about a year and has been moved to the Ineos site in Germany. Phenol made there is still unloaded in Antwerp. A total of 182 people work at Ineos Phenol. Ineos could not immediately be reached Wednesday afternoon.