Van Hool
During the press conference after the special works council at the bankrupt Van Hool, the Van Hool family received the full blast from the unions. Because those shareholders could not agree on a long-standing inheritance issue, there was no way to save the company.
“They had the key in their hands, which they did not use,” sneered Kim Samison of the Christian ACV. The business served the family rather than the other way around, she says. “Family disputes belong at the kitchen table, not at the negotiating table. We are union officials, not family therapists or mediators. We can only feel vicarious shame.”
Samison also pointed out the responsibility of the political and banking world. But she placed the final responsibility “mainly on the Van Hool family, who were unable to settle a family dispute. Introspective and intriguing”.
At the start of the press conference, crisis manager Marc Zwaaneveld had also explicitly referred to the role of the owners. “Unfortunately, due to an inheritance dispute, bankruptcy was unavoidable,” he said. “At this point it is over for everyone, an independent Van Hool nv is coming to an end.” This also applies to Zwaaneveld himself: after the bankruptcy, his job as crisis manager is over, his role at Van Hool is over.
Praise for the attitude of the staff
After the works council, crisis manager Marc Zwaaneveld expressed his appreciation for the Van Hool staff, who have remained very serene in recent weeks. “It hasn’t been easy for them. They are often people from the region, with a heart for Van Hool. This is a very bitter pill for them.” He also expressly thanked the unions for their attitude.
On behalf of the common trade union front, Kim Samison (ACV) also thanked the staff, who have received increasingly bad news in recent weeks. “Van Hool employees were the leading actors in a bad film, the screenplay of which was written by others. It is unprecedented what they have gone through, and unprecedented how they dealt with it. That is the only thing Van Hool can be proud of,” she added.
