Dutch trade unions have told Unilever, the world's third largest CPG producer, that the company should resume negotiations over a new wage deal or a redundancy plan or face labor action. Earlier this year, the consumer goods giant revealed plans to cut 20,000 jobs, 11% of its workforce, over the next four years. The cuts would focus on European operations.

Since 2004, Unilever has already trimmed its staff from 223,000 by selling off brands and altering business methods. The company plans to close or streamline about 50 of its 300 factories and to reduce its regional centers from about 100 to 25, as part of a bid to save €1.5 billion per year by 2010.

Unilever, whose brands include Hellmann's Mayonnaise, Surf and Lipton, employs about 179,000 people. The Dutch National Federation of Christian Trade Unions (CNV) Food union said that the company's employees in the Netherlands said that it would be forced to take action against Unilever if the company cannot reach a new deal with its employees. The CNV estimates almost 4,200 Unilever employees in the Netherlands faced serious uncertainty.