Italian employees of booking platform Booking.com are striking today due to an announced round of layoffs. The company wants to lay off nine people in Italy, without an agreement with the unions. In the Netherlands, the unions have reached an agreement with the booking company.
The three Italian unions involved are upset about the way Booking.com is acting. The company would not come to the negotiating table and is not offering a good severance package, the unions write in a joint statement.
Instead, Booking.com has approached the Italian Ministry of Labor without an agreement with the unions to announce the round of layoffs. This has accelerated the process. 150 people work at the Italian headquarters.
The unions are critical of the round of layoffs, which is part of a global reorganization. Booking.com is making a profit, but wants to work more efficiently.
“Behind words such as ‘optimization’ and ‘innovation’ lies a strategy of cutbacks with direct consequences for employees, many of whom have been employed for more than ten years,” the statement from unions Filcams Cgil, Fisascat Cisl and Uiltucs reads. “People are not numbers.”
In the Netherlands, hundreds to a thousand jobs are being cut at the online travel agency, which has a head office in Amsterdam. Unions FNV, CNV and De Unie have reached an agreement here. A large majority of union members support that agreement.
It concerns a voluntary departure scheme and a social plan for the people who are being laid off. Booking.com promises to provide more clarity about the layoffs within a few weeks.