Amazon will lay off 470 employees in Luxembourg

After Friday's meeting with Amazon executives, Luxembourg Labour Minister Georges Mischo emerged with a clear message: the US giant is not going to resort to a job-saving plan involving government subsidies. This possibility was discussed but finally rejected, despite the massive blow to local employment.

Immediately after the meeting, the union representatives received an official letter from the company: 470 employees in Luxembourg will be dismissed. We are talking about the structure where Amazon's European headquarters is located, simply put - the key hub of the company's corporate activities on the continent. Until now, this figure has only appeared in behind-the-scenes conversations, but now the company's intentions have been documented.

Amazon plans to eliminate 14,000 jobs worldwide amid its global restructuring. Luxembourg, despite its strategic importance and tax hub status, is no exception. The scale of the upcoming cuts raises questions about the country's sustainability as a "safe haven" for large international companies.

Judging by the situation, negotiations between management and the staff delegation will be extremely tense. The layoffs will affect both logistical and administrative positions, and this is worrying for trade unions: Amazon has previously been criticised for a lack of transparency in the procedure for selecting those to be made redundant.

Uncertainty reigns inside the company - neither specific divisions nor deadlines have been officially disclosed yet. This creates a suspended animation effect, which exacerbates the morale of the teams. At the same time, government mitigation tools, such as temporary salary subsidies or retraining programmes, will be left out of the picture.