By Tara Rippin • Published: 04 May 2020 • 12:38
UNIONS fear that the Japanese company is looking for a way to close the plants in Catalonia, and say that more than 3,000 direct jobs and 20,000 indirect jobs are at risk.
Workers at Nissan’s Barcelona plant began an indefinite strike strike today, Monday, May 4, to demand an industrial plan on the same day the multi-national intended to partially resume production as part of Spain’s de-escalation.
The CCOO union has confirmed the first plant to follow the call to strike by the works council has been the Montcada i Reixac site in Barcelona, which has stopped work completely.
CCOO said Nissan’s management has “never clarified the industrial prospects for the future and we are in a situation that exceeds the limits of uncertainty regarding the continuity of the production plants that Nissan has in the state,” said CCOO.
Nissan’s management in Europe reportedly informed the committees in Barcelona a few weeks ago that it will not release the industrial plan for these sites until the beginning of the summer, and that it does not expect full production to start before September.
The firm had planned to start production for only one line today, to assemble an order for Mercedes, which would mean the reincorporation of 30 per cent of staff.
The rest are still affected by ERTE, and the union fears that could continue into May and June, and even beyond, without any guarantees of conditions.
Before the pandemic, Nissan Zona Franca plant was operating at less than 25 per cent of its capacity due to a lack of workload. So unions fear that the Japanese company is looking for ways to eventually close the plants in Catalonia, reported 20minutos.
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Tara Rippin is a reporter for Spain’s largest English-speaking newspaper, Euro Weekly News, and is responsible for the Costa Blanca region. She has been in journalism for more than 20 years, having worked for local newspapers in the Midlands, UK, before relocating to Spain in 1990. Since arriving, the mother-of-one has made her home on the Costa Blanca, while spending 18 months at the EWN head office in Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol. She loves being part of a community that has a wonderful expat and Spanish mix, and strives to bring the latest and most relevant news to EWN’s loyal and valued readers.
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