EU support for NXP fab ex-workers

LONDON, UK: The European Union plans to re employ workers at a Nijmegen wafer fab who were made redundant by NXP in 2009.

The European Commission has approved an application for €1.8 million (about $2.3 million) from the Netherlands for assistance from the EU Globalization Adjustment Fund (EGF), said an EE Times report.The application also needs to be approved by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union. The issue is regarding to 590 redundancies at NXP Semiconductors Netherlands BV that happened due to the company closing down their wafer fab at Nijmegen.

According to the European Commission, the application was suitable for support from the EGF, because the market for semiconductors had been seriously affected the changes in world trade patterns and the financial and economic crisis. The Commission noted that Europe's share of the world semiconductor market had dropped from 14.9 percent in 2005 to 11.2 percent in 2009 and also that the high value of the Euro against the U.S. dollar in 2009 created an additional comparative disadvantage for European manufacturers.

Assistance for the 512 most disadvantaged of former NXP workers will come in the form of job identification and training. The total cost is estimated at €2.8 million (about $3.5 million)- the European Union will provide €1.8 million of EGF assistance. It was not clear how much time the European Parliament or the Council of the Europe Union would take to rule on the matter.

In all, 66 applications have been received by the EGF on behalf of more than 70,000 worker seeking €373.6 million (about $480 million) in assistance since the fund started operations in January 2007, revealed the Commission.