Nestlé announces a collective dismissal procedure that will affect 301 workers, including the Esplugues headquarters and the Girona and Reus factories

BarcelonaNestlé has announced that it will make up to 301 dismissals throughout the State, which include both workers from its headquarters in Esplugues de Llobregat and its coffee factories in Girona and Reus. The Swiss multinational justifies the employment regulation file (ERE) due to "the increase in operating expenses and the change in consumer habits", which entail moving towards "automation and digitalization". Nestlé Spain has convened all its works councils this midday to communicate the decision.

"After conducting an exhaustive analysis of operational structures and implementing various prior cost containment measures, the company has determined that the adjustment will affect a maximum of 301 positions in offices, sales teams, distribution centers, and six of its production centers in the country," the company stated in a press release. The exact number of workers from each center who will be affected by the ERE is expected to be made public in early May.

In mid-October last year, the Swiss multinational already announced that in the next two years it would carry out a global workforce reduction affecting 16,000 workers (almost 6% of the global workforce). Now the company has specified that, throughout the State, this restructuring will result in a maximum of 301 dismissals. Currently, the company has a workforce of 4,158 people throughout the Spanish territory. In addition to the workers at the headquarters in Esplugues, as well as the coffee factories that Nestlé has in Girona and Reus, the ERE will extend to the factories in Pontecesures (Pontevedra), Sebares (Asturias), La Penilla (Cantabria), and Miajadas (Cáceres).

"A profitable organization"

The UGT union, the majority in the works council of the Girona coffee factory, has already announced that it opposes the dismissal process. "We consider this massive job cut to be unjustified, disproportionate, and socially unacceptable," the union stresses in a statement, adding: "Especially in the context of a company that maintains a global leadership position in the food sector and continues to generate multi-million dollar profits".

In the same statement, UGT recalls that last year Nestlé billed more than 89 billion Swiss francs, that its net profit reached 9 billion in that currency, and that this 2026 the multinational plans to increase sales and grow between 3 and 4%. "We are not facing a company in crisis, but a highly profitable organization that has chosen to transfer the cost of its strategy to its workforce," assures the UGT union section at Nestlé Girona.

In the statement, the union emphasizes that the company is "prioritizing short-term financial profitability over the job and family stability of thousands of workers." Therefore, it demands that the management of Nestlé Spain "immediately" withdraw the collective dismissal plan and develop an alternative one "based on internal reorganization without job destruction." "We consider it unacceptable that a company with this economic capacity intends to adjust its strategy at the expense of thousands of jobs," concludes the union section.

The multinational, chaired by Spaniard Pablo Isla –former president of the fashion giant Inditex–, already announced last October a workforce reduction on a global scale of 16,000 workers.