The works council’s R&D department approached the Chamber of Companies on April 7 to block the cleanup. Philips confirms this in response to an internal note, on which the FD has asked questions. According to FD journalist Johan Leupen, the department is concerned about Philips’ innovative capacity. “This is the former Natlab where the chip machines were once developed which are now very successful at the ASML.”
“It’s pretty chaotic”
According to CEO Roy Jakobs, however, the company continues to spend 9% of its revenue on research and development, and this money is being used more efficiently. However, sources within Philips tell the FD that the turnaround plans are ill-advised and the move is chaotic, resulting in the loss of much valuable knowledge. Government-funded research projects are under threat, and employees who have been made redundant have been asked to return.
Chaos
Leupen calls the state of affairs quite chaotic and draws a comparison to the chaotic state of affairs that Elon Musk caused on Twitter, in which he called for the return of fired personnel. “It’s pretty chaotic, yeah.” Asked to what extent the court can block the reorganization, Leupen says this is possible if it can be shown that the alternatives have not been properly thought out. ‘They don’t just intervene, this is a tough test. But they could block it.’
But if some alternatives have now been blatantly sidelined, while they might be very good and the cuts are being made too deep in the Netherlands, the court can send the plans back to the drawing board, says Leupen. On the other hand, the case can also simply become suitable.
Although it is now the R&D department’s works council that has approached the Enterprise Chamber, Leupen also spoke to the chairman of the central works council “and also says that everyone at Philips is concerned.”
“Even the chairman of the central works council says that everyone at Philips is worried”
Unique
It’s now one of the biggest reorganizations in the tech group’s history, and it’s not the first time the works council has gone to court. What is unique is that Philips is struggling with various crises. “They have hundreds of lawsuits, discussions with regulators, they have a criminal investigation, and now they have quite an internal panic about how deep they are cutting.”
Read the article on Het Financieele Dagblad here
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