Uponor continues cost-cutting measures in Europe

21-Apr-09

Uponor, a leading supplier of plumbing and heating systems, has continued to introduce new rationalisation and cost reduction measures, in response to continuous low demand in the building and construction sector. Uponor Suomi Oy, company's subsidiary in Finland, informed its personnel of new statutory consultative negotiations on temporary lay-offs affecting all of its 360 employees for a period of two months at most. After a 6-week long negotiation process, the company will further reveal details about the structure of lay-offs. The measures mainly involve the company's residential building business in Europe. Uponor has carried out several other similar measures during the Q1 - 2009, in Sweden, Spain and in Great Britain. In January, the company announced staff reductions affecting 52 people in Virsbo, Sweden. The management and employees in the company's building solutions business in Sweden also agreed on temporary cuts in salaries and working hours during a period of 10 weeks. Furthermore, 19 persons were affected by staff reductions in Spain and Portugal, in addition to those carried out last year. In Great Britain, the company recently announced a reduction need of 19 persons at most, to be realised during April.