The negotiation of the employment regulation file in the cardboard packaging line of Verdisseny, in Terrassa, ended this Friday without an agreement after the consultation period concluded and the staff rejected the company's latest proposal in an assembly. The company is part of the Osga Group.
The final clash came from two directions. On one hand, the management maintained an offer of 33 days per year worked with a cap of 15 months, but has announced that it will apply 22 days with a limit of 12 for those who remain within the file. On the other hand, the company planned to lay off 17 people, although out of the 16 employees who voluntarily offered to be relocated, it only accepted six profiles.
The company reduces compensation to 22 days and maintains 17 layoffs
The affected line brings together about 50 workers, and the majority are people with disabilities. This fact has been a central point of contention between management and social representation during the consultation period.
In its latest proposal, the company maintained compensation of 33 days per year worked and raised the cap from 12 to 15 months. The social side demanded to reach 18 months and argued that any relocation to other company services should be voluntary.
After the closure without an agreement, the management will communicate to the labor authority the layoff of 17 people and compensation of 22 days per year worked, with a maximum of 12 months for those included in the file.
In addition, the company maintains that it will promote a social plan to facilitate voluntary relocation to other similar companies. This approach is in addition to the internal relocation of part of the staff to other services of the company itself.
Only six volunteers were accepted for transfers to other services
The strongest disagreement occurred in the chapter on relocations. Management proposed relocating 17 people, but out of the 16 workers who voluntarily offered, it only accepted six profiles and proposed to complete the group with eleven other people chosen by the company.
The workers' representation maintains that the company has not negotiated in good faith and denounces that relevant documentation was missing during the process. Specifically, it criticizes that the list of the eleven people the company wanted to include to complete the relocations was not provided.
The management justified this refusal based on data protection. It also argued that its intention was to keep within the company those workers who, due to their capacity and situation, were in a worse position to find other employment.
Now the social party is studying filing a collective dismissal lawsuit to request the annulment of the file and, subsidiarily, its inadmissibility. It also considers challenging any potential reallocations due to a possible substantial modification of working conditions.
The conflict affects a line with about 50 workers in Verdisseny, in Terrassa, and the majority of this workforce are people with disabilities.