12,000 jobs at risk as home healthcare firm's money issues mount

TSN Thuiszorg, the largest home care organization in the Netherlands, applied for postponement of payment. Given that postponement of payment is often a prelude to bankruptcy, some 12 thousand jobs are now at risk. The home care organization made this announcement in a press conference on Friday, NU reports. Earlier this year TSN announced that the company needs to cut the wages of their employees by 20 to 30 percent "in order to survive". Last month the judge ruled that companies financial problems cannot be pass on to the employees and the cuts had to be reversed. Gijs van Dijk, director of union FNV, told NU that the first priority now is to get clarity for staff and patients. "Their work and daily care has to continue, that is priority number one. We will do everything we can to save this care and jobs.' he said. According to him TSN's problems can be blamed on budget cuts. "The government scrapped some 40 percent of the budget and made the municipalities responsible for this care. They often cut more, invested too little or partly abolished home care." TSN has more than 40 branches spread throughout the country and provides care for about 60 thousand elderly and handicapped people. The organization has some 12 thousand permanent employees and several thousand people on temporary contracts. The home care organization already implemented 5 reorganizations over the past year, in which 4 thousand jobs were lost. According to the management, this was the direct result of "extreme cuts in home care".