Papermakers in Action
on the Zuidas:
'Curators Are Still Destroying Us'

Acticle NRC (Tom Kreling andJeroen Wester) / 24 July 2025 (translated by ChatGTP, hyperlink to Dutch article) 

Employees of Crown Van Gelder demonstrated on Amsterdam's Zuidas against the curators whom they say are hampering the company's restart.

A brief shower rinsed the streets between the office buildings of Amsterdam's Zuidas on Wednesday morning.

Under a dark grey party tent, a group of middle-aged men huddled together. They sheltered. Most wore fluorescent-coloured sweaters—their company uniforms. A few had helmets on.

"Normally we don't come here," says one of them. "This is not our world."

This morning, they staged a protest in front of the offices of the British-American law firm DLA Piper. Opposite the main entrance, a large banner was planted in the lawn. "DLA, cut it out! You're not straightforward!"

The demonstrators, mostly employees of the Crown Van Gelder paper factory from Velsen-Noord, are not angry at the lawyers. They are angry at the curators who manage the estate of their former factory

Restart

In early 2023 their company (250 employees) collapsed—for a moment. Under the leadership of a U.S. investor, the factory restarted in a new limited company. The old company went bankrupt, and the curators' task is to repay debts as much as possible with the proceeds from the remaining assets.

"But they are playing with our jobs," says Michèl Kaptijn, chair of the works council and one of the protest leaders. "They are working against us and still destroying our company."

What follows is a complex presentation of contractual obligations back and forth, a series of lawsuits between the curators and the new owner of the paper factory. At the end of 2024, the parties stood before the Enterprise Chamber of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal.

It solved nothing. A trip to court takes too long and consumes energy, staff say. Meanwhile, due to that, Crown Van Gelder cannot make a healthy restart, says Kaptijn. The works council believes the curators are frustrating investments and opposing additional financing. "We are now two and a half years further and still see the company going down the drain."

Billing Hours

The curators originate from DLA Piper and the Haarlem law firm Pot Jonker. They receive criticism on the protest signs placed against the facade. "DLA / Pot Jonker, cut it out! Destroying our jobs!"

The U.S. investor paid many millions at the takeover with which the curators could pay creditors. But the curators are also paid from the estate and have priority in their expense claims. "Normally little remains after such a bankruptcy, but with us it's quite a lot," says Kaptijn. "So you can imagine they benefit from dragging it out and keep writing hours."

Own Offices Hired

In recent years, the curators billed a little under eight thousand hours to settle affairs in Velsen-Noord.

"Then you're quickly talking about a few million," calculates someone present. Moreover, in recent years, the curators have hired their own offices for various legal procedures. And that goes at rates above €500 per hour, he says. "We recommend W.C.-Eend to W.C.-Eend. That this is possible in the Netherlands."

According to Kaptijn, after the restart the curators never made contact again with the works council. Nor did they investigate why the company suddenly went bankrupt. In short: all the staff's discontent is about the technical handling of the bankruptcy. "Robbing our estate, shame on you! You are destroying staff and creditors," screams one of the protest signs. "Pot Jonker, your bread, our death!" warns another.

"We are papermakers and want to save the company," says Kaptijn.

The Crown Van Gelder factory continues operating in a slimmed-down form on the North Sea Canal, where the company has stood since 1896. Everyone taking action this morning on the Zuidas—around twenty people—is free or has taken leave, the chair of the works council explains. "We want to show that we support our management and are fighting for our jobs," adds Bernard Wesselink, a manager of the paper factory.

Employees of the law firm are watching the demonstrators through the large glass windows. They—predominantly over fifty—look back up.

No one from DLA Piper engaged with the visitors on Wednesday morning. A spokesperson for the curators said by phone that they "of course did not like it" when people protest in front of the building. "They feel wronged. The curators regret that. The curators also have an interest in the new company becoming a success."

According to the spokesperson, the curators want the estate to be settled as smoothly as possible, but that is precisely made more difficult by the legal procedures that the new American owner repeatedly initiates. The Californian company does not want to comment.

Wesselink: "We hope that the curators now wake up. We are making a moral appeal to the curators."