500 jobs to go as Pfizer closes Stockholm factory
The drug company Pfizer has announced plans to close its factory in Stockholm. The move will lead to the loss of 500 jobs over the next three years.
In a press statement, the company said that the closure was a result of the board's decision to stop the development of a new product and was part of a global cost-cutting programme.
In fact, the axe has been hovering over the factory for almost ten years. In 1996 Pharmacia, as the company was then, decided that the plant had to close but the final blow was repeatedly postponed.
"We invested a lot in the new product which would have brought increased profits for the Stockholm factory," said Zeibrant Lindqvist, the managing director of Pfizer Health AB.
"To have to shut down development of the product is a great disappointment for all of us."
The product in question is the growth hormone, Genotropin. It will now be produced at other factories, "perhaps abroad", noted Dagens Nyheter.
"Quite simply, it's bloody awful," said the vice-chairman union Industrifacket's Pfizer branch, Petteri Raita.
"We've been a good production outfit until today, but now the owners say that it costs too much to keep the factory alive."
With factories in Uppsala and Helsingborg, the company recently announced that it was investing almost a billion kronor in a new plant in Strängnäs. However, there was no indication that there would be jobs there for the people laid off in Stockholm.
"The factory in Helsingborg is going very well and they take people on all the time there," said Petteri Raita. "But it's a long way to Helsingborg."
The employee participation phase of the decision-making process will begin next week and continue until the autumn.
"We don't know when the first people will be laid off - but if we look ahead the majority of the staff will leave in 2007," said Zeibrant Lindqvist.
The announcement rounded up what Dagens Nyheter called "a dark day for Swedish industry". Earlier, the paper company Billerud said it was laying off 450 staff while Saab said it was cutting 350 workers following a reduction in workload for its Gripen JAS 39 fighter plane.
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In a press statement, the company said that the closure was a result of the board's decision to stop the development of a new product and was part of a global cost-cutting programme.
In fact, the axe has been hovering over the factory for almost ten years. In 1996 Pharmacia, as the company was then, decided that the plant had to close but the final blow was repeatedly postponed.
"We invested a lot in the new product which would have brought increased profits for the Stockholm factory," said Zeibrant Lindqvist, the managing director of Pfizer Health AB.
"To have to shut down development of the product is a great disappointment for all of us."
The product in question is the growth hormone, Genotropin. It will now be produced at other factories, "perhaps abroad", noted Dagens Nyheter.
"Quite simply, it's bloody awful," said the vice-chairman union Industrifacket's Pfizer branch, Petteri Raita.
"We've been a good production outfit until today, but now the owners say that it costs too much to keep the factory alive."
With factories in Uppsala and Helsingborg, the company recently announced that it was investing almost a billion kronor in a new plant in Strängnäs. However, there was no indication that there would be jobs there for the people laid off in Stockholm.
"The factory in Helsingborg is going very well and they take people on all the time there," said Petteri Raita. "But it's a long way to Helsingborg."
The employee participation phase of the decision-making process will begin next week and continue until the autumn.
"We don't know when the first people will be laid off - but if we look ahead the majority of the staff will leave in 2007," said Zeibrant Lindqvist.
The announcement rounded up what Dagens Nyheter called "a dark day for Swedish industry". Earlier, the paper company Billerud said it was laying off 450 staff while Saab said it was cutting 350 workers following a reduction in workload for its Gripen JAS 39 fighter plane.
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