Pfizer plans to cut up to 62 jobs at Brussels headquarters

US pharmaceutical group Pfizer plans to cut up to 62 of the 350 jobs at its Brussels headquarters, the company reported on Thursday. However, there will be no direct impact on jobs at the Puurs site in Antwerp province, where the majority of Pfizer's 5,000 employees in Belgium are based, said Kathleen Commers of Pfizer Belux.

The job cuts, announced at a works council meeting on Wednesday, are part of Pfizer's global cost-cutting programme. The information and consultation phase of the Renault procedure - part of Belgian labour law relating to collective redundancies - has begun. "We hope to limit the impact on our employees as much as possible and will look for alternatives for them within the company," Commers said.

"As far as Belgium is concerned, we expect only a minor impact on our colleagues at the Puurs production site and at our logistics centre in Zaventem," she said. "The proposed plan would mainly consist of reducing activities at the Brussels headquarters." Pfizer's Brussels office employs administrative, commercial, medical, regulatory and support staff.

As recently as December 2022, Pfizer announced a 1.2 billion euro investment in its production site in Puurs-Sint-Amands over three years, which was expected to create 250 additional jobs.

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