Following the General Workers Union declaration of an industrial dispute over the mass layoffs seen after Evolutions acquisition of NetEnt, the Maltese court has held off the redundancies until a hearing on 17 December
Following? Evolution?Gaming’s?acquisition?of?NetEnt?for SEK19.60bn/$2.30bn/€1.91bn,?means to mitigate costs were expected which included the layoff of 324 employees in Malta.?
The General Workers Union (GWU),?Malta’s largest trade union,?were?disappointed?that?NetEnt?and Evolution Gaming gave the move the green light without consulting them,?arguing that they have marginalised employees’ capacity to exercise their rights. They stated:?
The GWU decried?NetEnt?and Evolution Gaming’s anti-union tactics, which it contends are intended to prevent an effective consultation of employees at a critical moment when they are facing potential redundancy days before Christmas,
The Union state that this is a violation of?Malta’s Collective Redundancies (Protection of Employment) Regulations,?and?Transfer of Business (Protection of Employment) Regulations which?specifically add protections for merger-related?redundancies.?
The General Workers Union who represent a large percentage?of?NetEnt?Malta’s employees?declared an industrial dispute?last?week claiming that the?NetEnt?and Evolution failed to?acknowledge?the?significance?of the GWU?when executing the planned layoffs.?
Moreover, the Union?argued that the business appointed its own representative instead of directly consulting the GWU.?
The?court?has?shown?support?for?the GWU’s request for an injunction, the layoffs placed on hold until?17th?December.?Given the news, a?representative?stated:??
Thanks to the Court’s intervention following our urgent request, 324 illegal dismissals have now been put on hold,
We will continue to insist that?NetEnt?and Evolution Gaming honour their consultation obligations in full, and we will do our utmost to ensure that jobs are saved, and, where that is not possible, that appropriate compensation is paid.
Source: iGaming Business??
About SiGMA’s revamped website:
SiGMA Group is excited to announce the launch of its newly?revamped website. The website is currently available in 6 languages, English, Russian, French, Mandarin, Portuguese, and Spanish with plans to add another 4 languages over the coming months – namely Thai, Korean, Japanese, and Hindi.
