The "Procédure Renault" is a term used in Belgian media referring to a legally mandatory consultation period necessary when employers make redundancies. The term has its origins in a controversial mass layoff in 1997 at a Renault's Vilvoorde factory.
The relevant 1998 law is known as the "loi Renault" ('Renault law').
Description
In 1997 Renault announced the closure of its Vilvoorde factory with the loss of 3,097 jobs. The job losses were announced without any prior consultation or warning. The announcement caused a 20% rise in the company's share price, but caused substantially negative labour relations issues, including strikes and other actions at a Belgian and European level in support of the affected workers.
The term arose following the closure of Renault's factory in 1997. Due to the controversial nature of the closure the Belgian government empowered the Conseil National du Travail/Nationale Arbeidsraad (CNT/NAR) to report on the consultation procedure. Subsequently, on the recommendation of the CNT a law, known as the loi Renault ('Renault law') was passed on 13 Feb 1998. The law added additional requirements in addition to two existing laws of 1975/6 on necessary procedures when a company makes collective redundancies. The law required the company to inform and consult the workers on such redundancies, with reference to the rational for the redundancies, and the selection criteria for those made redundant. Additionally the employer was required to listen to and respond to all of the employees' questions on the redundancies.
The law includes mass layoffs but excludes bankruptcies which are covered by a law enacted in 1966.
Since enactment the term Procédure Renault has been used in the Belgian media to refer to the consultation between workers and employers prior to mass redundancies. For example in reference to: end of primary steel production at ArcelorMittal Liege (2013); end of coke and blast furnace work at Carsid (Marchienne-au-Pont, 2012); partial closure and cutbacks at the former Duferco La Louvière steel plant (2012); redundancies at aerospace firm SONACA (2009); redundancies at Ford's Genk motor plant (2012); and at the Caterpillar Inc plant in Gosselies (2012).