The Vetropack Group, one of Europe's leading glass packaging manufacturers, has reached an agreement yesterday with employee representatives and trade unions on a social plan for the St-Prex plant. The social plan will apply to all employees affected by the job cuts.

"This is good news for our employees in St-Prex: as of today, we have a social plan for our St-Prex site," says Johann Reiter, CEO of Vetropack Group. "This ensures that all employees affected will benefit from the measures provided in the plan – and that is what ultimately matters."

In recent weeks, the Vetropack Management Board has held several rounds of talks with employee representatives and trade unions. In these meetings, the proposal for the social plan prepared by Vetropack was discussed and further developed. Yesterday, both sides reached an agreement on the social plan, which particularly aims to support the employees affected by job reductions and, where possible, place them in new jobs.

The social plan includes all the components already announced by Vetropack in mid-May, such as severance payments, bonuses as well as benefits for possible early retirement. In addition, a dedicated job centre will support employees to find new jobs. 

"These were not easy talks for both parties. In the end, however, we had a common goal: to find a good solution for our employees here at the site", said Johann Reiter. "I would like to thank all the participants and in particular Kareen Vaisbrot, member of the Swissmem Management, as well as the employee representatives for their contribution to this solution."