Job Losses at Tiffany Subsidiary in Antwerp
March 16, 25
(IDEX Online) - A subsidiary of Tiffany & Co plans to lay off 26 of its 42 staff in Antwerp amid the ongoing slump in demand.
Laurelton Diamonds, a De Beers sightholder, was established in 2002 to procure rough diamonds, and to cut, polish and supply polished stones to its own jewelry manufacturers. It has operations in Belgium, Vietnam, Canada, Botswana, South Africa and beyond.
The company, wholly owned by Tiffany, blames the possible job losses on weak demand from China and the US, together with competition from lab growns.
"For the workforce the news came as a bolt out of the blue,' said Yves Toutenel of the Christian ACV union ((Algemeen Christelijk Vakverbond), according to VRT, the Flemish public broadcaster.
"In 2018, the company closed its cutting plant in Antwerp. At that time, 20 staff were laid off. Laurelton now intends to make 18 blue-collar staff and eight white-collar workers redundant by the autumn."
He said he feared Laurelton was making redundancies too quickly and said there were early signs that the diamond industry could be recovering.
We have approached Laurelton Diamonds for comment.
File pic of rough diamonds