Nestlé workers in Girona and Reus demonstrated this Friday at noon in front of the two plants to reject the ERO (Collective Layoff Procedure) proposed by the company, which foresees 178 layoffs in Catalonia within an adjustment of 301 employees throughout Spain. The protests coincided with the shift change and gathered about 25 people in Girona and about 40 in Reus.
The underlying tension is that the adjustment comes while unions maintain that the company is not making losses and recall years of record production, in contrast to management, which denies economic reasons and attributes the procedure to a lack of medium-term sustainability. In the Catalan factories, the ERO foresees 12 dismissals in Girona and eight in Reus.
Unions rejected the ERO while Nestlé denied economic reasons
The meeting between the company and the union representation ended without agreement. The organizations present expressed unanimous rejection of the procedure and requested additional information on the documentation provided by management.
Noelia Eslava, a member of the Nestlé Spain works council, argued that the ERO "is not justified." She also stated that the company has "no losses" and affirmed that "the company always wins," for which she described the arguments used by the multinational as a "lie."
"We have been working very intensely for a few years and achieving record production. We have given our all and always will. That the company, for money, when it is not justified, uses AI to leave people on the street, we do not understand. If the situation becomes complicated, let them prepare" - Pablo Esteban, Nestlé secretary for Comisiones Obreras, CCOO
From the demonstration in Girona, Pablo Esteban acknowledged the company's "good faith," but made it clear that the union's priority is to halt the procedure. He also recalled that during Covid, the company registered "extraordinary profits" and that the workforce "worked like never before."
Nestlé management maintains a different thesis. The company argues that the procedure does not respond to economic reasons, but to a lack of medium-term business sustainability, and links it to the advance of private label brands, digitalization, automation, and future viability.
CCOO requested early retirement for those over 60 and negotiations will continue on May 20
CCOO, which is participating in negotiations with the company, has proposed early retirements for workers over 60 years of age. For now, there is no agreement, and both parties have set a new meeting for May 20.
On the same day, a demonstration of the staff of the central offices of Esplugues de Llobregat, the center most affected by the redundancy plan, is also called. There, Nestlé foresees 178 departures, well above the 12 in Girona and the eight in Reus.
In Girona, moreover, the protest left an unusual image in this type of mobilization. UGT was not represented, unlike what happened in Reus, an absence that surprised the rest of the unions present.
Esteban defended that Nestlé offers good working conditions, although he added that shifts, night work, and work on holidays must be taken into account. The CCOO secretary warned that this labor framework has been achieved with union pressure and added that "this conflict will be even worse."
The next meeting between management and unions has been set for May 20.