Citing a slowdown due to the coronavirus crisis, shipbuilding company Meyer-Turku has confirmed that it will permanently lay off 166 workers at its facility in Turku, following the conclusion of the first stage of codetermination talks which began last spring.
Meyer-Turku said it was laying off 86 blue-collar and 80 white-collar employees, according to a release issued Thursday.
The firm first announced that it was entering codetermination talks regarding the jobs of up to 450 of its workers in April.
Further codetermination talks are still ongoing within its equipment, design and HR departments, according to the firm, but the number of affected employees was not disclosed. The firm said the negotiations are set to be complete by the end of the year.
The company said the personnel cuts were needed because the coronavirus crisis had "changed the landscape of cruise operation and shipbuilding drastically."
Meyer-Turku said it was initiating a programme offering affected workers guidance, support and training to those who were interested, "to ease the transition."