Unilever is cutting about 1,500 fewer jobs in Europe than initially anticipated and hiring about 1,000 people, primarily those affected by its cost-cutting drive, for its soon-to-be spun off ice cream business, the head of the company's European Works Council told Reuters.
Unilever said earlier this year it would axe 7,500 jobs globally as part of a restructuring to save about €800 million ($845 million). It also said it would spin off its ice cream unit which is home to brands including Ben & Jerry's and Magnum.
Unilever's European Works Council (UEWC) has strongly criticised those decisions, saying a realignment of the ice cream business could have been successfully managed within Unilever.
UEWC chairman, Hermann Soggeberg, told Reuters exclusively that the company had, however, reached a deal in October with Unilever that would see a reduction of about 1,700 jobs having initially anticipated about 3,200 job losses in Europe.
"We have been negotiating intensively with the company throughout the summer," Soggeberg said.
Reduction In Job Cuts
He said Unilever is still making the savings it promised to investors, but was able to significantly reduce the job cuts in Europe through savings projects from 2022 to 2024 and not hiring externally.
Soggeberg said about 1,000 additional jobs will be offered at Unilever's European ice cream company primarily to employees affected by job cuts in the rest of Unilever's business.
"They are planning for growth in ice cream," Soggeberg said. "We agreed with Unilever that this process to hiring these people will be synchronised with the job cut programme."
Ice Cream Business
The ice cream business' spinoff is expected to complete by the end of 2025, London-listed Unilever has previously said, adding that it would move to a separate head office in Amsterdam.
"We remain fully on track to deliver the 800 million euros savings from our productivity programme," a Unilever spokesperson said.
"When we announced the programme, we were determined to mitigate the impact of these changes on our people and so we are pleased that we have achieved this in Europe," the spokesperson added.
The company is also exploring the sale of some of its Dutch food brands, three sources with knowledge of the process said, as part of a turnaround strategy led by CEO Hein Schumacher to focus on its biggest 'power' labels.
