The works councils of the International Paper DS Smith plants in Valls and Montblanc have reached an agreement with the management to establish the conditions of the ERE that affects all 200 workers of both factories. The workforce ratified it in an assembly held this afternoon, after negotiations that extended until well into yesterday's early morning.
The understanding arrives within the foreseen deadlines and avoids both a new extension as well as a breakdown of the conversations that would have ended with the conflict in the courts. With this step, company and workers' representatives consider a process to be on track that completely affected the two work centers in the region.
Ratification of the staff after a long negotiation
The assembly's vote has given green light to the pact reached by the works councils of Valls and Montblanc. The agreement sets the conditions of the employment regulation file proposed for the two plants and closes a negotiation phase that had intensified in the last hours before the deadline's expiration.
Antonio Muriana, president of the works council of the Montblanc plant, made a positive assessment of the result and maintained that the agreed exit is "quite good".
"Very correct compensations have been achieved" - Antonio Muriana, president of the works council of Montblanc
Muriana added that "very good early retirements" have also been agreed for the workers who are close to retirement age, one of the points that focused part of the negotiation.
The judicial route is avoided
The closing of the agreement allows to avoid a scenario of clash between the parties. If there had not been understanding within the fixed calendar, the process could have been extended with a new extension or end directly in the courts. Finally, it has not been necessary.
In parallel, the works councils had scheduled an intervention in the Business and Labor commission of the Parliament of Catalonia. That appearance was suspended. Muriana explained that it was not carried out due to lack of time, in a context marked by the last hours of negotiation and the closing of the agreement.
With the ratification of the workforce, the Valls and Montblanc factories are now awaiting the application of conditions that affect all workers included in the ERE and that put an end to a negotiation followed with expectation in both centers.