Tata Steel confirms job cuts of up to 3,000 across European operations
London, Nov 19: Tata Steel has confirmed cuts of up to 3,000 jobs across its European operations as part of a wider restructuring and cost-cutting strategy to counter stagnant steel demand in Europe and global overcapacity.
The Indian steel giant said it plans to lower employment costs with the "estimated reduction" in employee numbers, about two-thirds of which are expected to be office-based white-collar roles a majority expected at its Netherlands unit.
"The information shared with the European Works Council select committee lays out the case for change, explains our transformation programme and gives a first overview of the organisational impact," a company statement said.
"A transformation is needed to mitigate the current structural and cyclical headwinds and create the foundation for the company's future success. Stagnant EU steel demand and global overcapacity have been compounded by trade conflicts which have turned the European market into a dumping ground for the world's excess steel capacity," it noted.
Through its proposed transformation programme, Tata Steel Europe said it is initially targeting a positive cash flow by the end of its financial year ending March 2021. It is also aiming for an EBITDA margin of around 10 per cent throughout the market cycle.
"We intend to align on our approach and the process going forward and engage with various stakeholders to develop the proposed decisions and ensure compliance with all European and national obligations. Further details will be provided from this point forward and detailed proposals will be developed from here," the company statement added.
The steel major, one of Europe's leading steel producers, said the changes were needed to ensure the business can thrive despite severe market headwinds and also accelerate innovation towards carbon-neutral steelmaking.
"Today we are highlighting important proposals towards building a financially strong and sustainable European business," said Henrik Adam, CEO of Tata Steel in Europe, in a statement on Monday.
"We plan to change how we work together to enable better cooperation and faster decision-making. This will help us become self-sustaining and cash positive in the face of unprecedented severe market conditions, enabling us to lead the way towards a carbon-neutral future," he said.
The programme is focused on four areas to improve financial performance increasing sales of higher-value steels by improving product mix and customer focus; efficiency gains by optimising production processes, supported by the application of big data and advanced analytics; lowering employment costs; and reduction of procurement costs through smarter sourcing and strengthening cooperation with companies within the Tata Steel group.
The latest move comes a few months after Tata Steel Europe announced plans to close two UK operations with the loss of 400 jobs, after it failed to sell off its loss-making Orb Electrical Steels business in Newport, South Wales.
Tata Steel's struggles with its European operations follow a European Union (EU) ruling to deny its joint venture plans with German giant ThyssenKrupp on anti-competitive grounds.
The company said its quest for improved earnings and cash flows would help make it a financially self-sustaining business able to invest in asset reliability and improvements while also servicing its financial obligations to its lenders and shareholders.
According to the latest figures, in the first six months of its current financial year starting April 2019, Tata Steel Europe reported a drop of 90 per cent in EBITDA to 31 million pounds and revenue stood at 3.25 billion pounds.
Tata Steel has steelmaking operations in the Netherlands and the UK, and manufacturing plants across Europe for the supply of high-quality steel products to the most demanding markets, including construction and infrastructure, automotive, packaging and engineering.
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Low attendance in Delhi schools day after bomb scare; principals revisit evacuation plans for future
New Delhi (PTI): A day after more nearly 200 schools received hoax bomb emails, educational institutions in the city witnessed a slightly lower attendance, even as principals revisited evacuation plans for such emergencies in the future.
Around 200 schools in Delhi-NCR Wednesday morning received a hoax bomb threat via email which led to widespread panic among parents and students, prompting authorities to suspend classes and ask parents to pick their wards from the school.
Many schools on Thursday reopened to normalcy but attendance has taken a hit even in schools where the threat was not received, principals of some schools told PTI.
Jyoti Arora, principal of Mount Abu School, said she revisited the school's evacuation plan on each floor and also wrote to disaster management authorities to conduct mock drills and awareness activities for them.
She said that there was "slightly more absenteeism" than usual on Thursday.
"I wrote an email to parents telling them to counsel their children and in case they need help from school counsellors, they are also available. I also requested parents to assess their reaction in case of such situations," Arora said.
She said some parents were pushing the gates and some were insisting on taking their children out of turn. "I told them, 'I have 2,700 children to take care of'," she told PTI.
Even in that situation, Arora said she asked teachers to hand the children over after properly checking the IDs of parents, and taking their signatures. Children were also asked to confirm the identities of their parents, she said.
Sudha Acharya, principal of ITL Public School in Dwarka, said parents were still scarred and anxious about the safety of their children in schools.
"Our attendance today has dropped to 85 per cent from an average of about 95 to 97 per cent daily. Certainly parents are still scarred and anxious about the safety of their children. Yesterday itself we had ensured parents that there is nothing to worry about. We didn't get anything on our official email ID," Acharya said.
Acharya, who is also the head of the National Progressive Schools Conference, a body of 250 private schools, said her counterparts in other institutions have also said the attendance is on the lower side.
"For instance, in nursery and KG classes, the attendance is around 80 per cent since there is some fear among parents. But the situation is normal," she added.
"There has been a 10-15 per cent drop in attendance due to the hoax threat compared to the usual strength every day. Parents should understand panicking would not help anyone. We need mutual cooperation to walk out of this situation," Anita Khosla, principal, G D Goenka Public School, Dwarka said.
Schools now plan to issue a fresh advisory to parents asking them to send their children for classes and assuring them that all guidelines for handling bomb threats are being followed by the administration.
They said school premises are now properly sanitised and police are constantly monitoring the security and safety of students and staff.
However, some parents escorted their wards to the schools on Thursday.
"My daughter's school did not receive any threat email, but the school was shut early due to panic among parents. Thankfully, the school opened at normal time today," said Nancy Singh, mother of a class 1 student in Ramagya School in Noida, Sector 50.
Others went to school due to the ongoing exams.
"I was under the impression that the schools will declare a holiday even today but they didn't because exams are going on. I brought my child to school only because of the exam otherwise I wouldn't have. Deep inside we are still sacred for their security and there are a lot of rumours doing rounds," said Preeti Chaudhary, mother of a class 9 student at Mothers Mary School, Mayur Vihar.
Delhi Police made an appeal to people on Thursday to not believe in audio messages that have surfaced on WhatsApp groups making false claims about the bomb threat.
