Supermarket chain Cora's closure ranks as the seventh-largest layoff announcement since 2010 according to the Belgian Ministry of Employment.
On Tuesday, company announced its plan to close supermarkets by early 2026, potentially threatening 1,779 jobs.
The biggest redundancy top of this list is Ford Genk, which announced in October 2012 the closure of its Limburg factory and planned to collectively lay off 4,264 people.
Next is Carrefour’s restructuring in 2010 with 3,363 job losses in hypermarkets, followed by the more recent closure of Audi Brussels affecting 2,920 jobs.
The closure of Opel’s Antwerp factory in early 2010 threatened 2,612 jobs, while Delhaize’s transformation plan in 2014 put 2,500 jobs at risk.
Caterpillar-Solar in Gosselies announced the last major layoff with over 2,000 jobs at risk in September 2016, affecting 2,101 employees, followed by Cora’s latest announcement impacting nearly 1,800 workers.
Since 2010, there have been 14 collective layoff announcements with over 1,000 jobs at risk.
Caterpillar-Solar Gosselies appears twice on this list, having previously announced 1,400 job cuts in March 2013.
Carrefour features three times, including the 2010 announcement of 1,301 threatened jobs in supermarkets and the 2018 announcement of 1,233 job cuts in hypermarkets and central services.
The announcement of a collective layoff initiates negotiations between management and unions on possible alternatives, which might reduce the number of actual job losses.
