Hundreds of Nissan workers demonstrated on Wednesday, May 28, outside the company's offices on Granvia Avenue in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat to reject the ERO (Collective Layoff Plan) proposed by the company, which affects 211 employees from three centers in Catalonia.
The protest came after a meeting between unions and management, mediated by the Department of Labor, ended without progress. The conflict also occurs five years after the end of vehicle manufacturing in Barcelona, when the company's industrial departure already affected 2,500 workers, and now another adjustment is being made to the areas that remained active.
The company maintains 211 layoffs and admits it will move activity outside Catalonia
The ERO affects 110 professionals at the parts center in Prat de Llobregat, 86 at the technical center in the Zona Franca of Barcelona, and another 15 at the flexible areas center, also located in El Prat. In total, the measure affects 37% of the workforce.
Following the meeting with labor mediation, Nissan informed the unions that the relocation of activity outside Catalonia will proceed. The company only opened the door to adjusting the number of layoffs, without withdrawing the ERO.
The social side argues that the ERO is not justified because the company bases it on global economic reasons and not on problems in the Catalan centers. For this reason, the unions frame the measure as a disguised closure.
"It's not about negative local results, but rather that Nissan is carrying out a global restructuring and is taking our work elsewhere. In the case of the parts center, to Holland, and engineering and the rest of the support areas, to India" - Mònica Figueres, general secretary of Comissions Obreres at Nissan
The mobilization concentrated in front of the headquarters on Granvia Avenue and, for more than half an hour, blocked one of the sides of Gran Via. Neighbors from L'Hospitalet de Llobregat also attended the concentration.
The adjustment comes five years after the last vehicle manufactured in Barcelona
The new labor conflict arises when the precedent of the brand's industrial closure in Barcelona still weighs heavily. That process affected 2,500 workers when the company manufactured its last vehicle in the city.
Part of that workforce left due to retirement or dismissal, while other employees were relocated to the new Ebro and Chery automotive factories through the reindustrialization plan. Now the cutback is focused on services that remained operational in El Prat de Llobregat and the Zona Franca.
Among those attending the protest, uncertainty also emerged regarding the direct impact of the redundancy plan on families. A company worker and resident of the city described the atmosphere of concern during the rally.
"Everyone is very distressed, it's an uncertain future and we don't know what can happen. 211 families are affected" - Carla, Nissan employee and resident of L'Hospitalet de Llobregat
Carla, who has worked for the company for 15 years, attributed part of the blow experienced by those affected by the redundancy plan to that length of service.