Pre-agreement at Ficosa: the ERO will end with 105 dismissals and various guarantees for the workers
Initially, an impact of 172 workers was foreseen
BarcelonaFicosa's management and unions seal a preliminary agreement to reduce the impact of the redundancy plan (ERO) announced a few weeks ago. The pact – which must be ratified this Friday by the workers – reduces the number of affected people compared to initial forecasts at the historic Viladecavalls plant: while the company initially planned to lay off 172 people, it has finally been agreed to reduce layoffs to 105. In addition, voluntary departures will be prioritized, so once the workforce accepts the conditions, interested workers will have two weeks to decide if they wish to join.
The preliminary agreement also includes a series of measures to make the layoffs as less traumatic as possible. Specifically, for workers under 50 years of age, a compensation of 33 days per year worked has been agreed, with a maximum of 24 months, plus a flat bonus of €12,000. These conditions are reduced according to age groups until reaching people over 63 years old, for whom it will be 20 days per year worked, with a maximum of 12 months. However, all agreed compensations will have a maximum cap of €100,000.
Two key clauses
Furthermore, two key clauses have also been introduced: on the one hand, unions and management have agreed on a safeguard that guarantees that, in the event that the company presents a new ERO for economic, technical, organizational, or productive reasons before the end of 2028, the same conditions as in this one must be applied. "It was important to close this safeguard given the current state of the sector," union sources tell ARA. On the other hand, the works council, chaired by the CGT, has also managed to incorporate a return clause whereby, whenever there is a vacancy, people who have opted for this ERO will have priority in filling it.
All these dismissals will focus on Ficosa's production plant. Another important point of the agreement has been the conversion to a temporary employment regulation file (ERTO) of the impacts foreseen in the engineering area. Specifically, an ERTO has been established for 38 people, from September 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027, which will be extended to 275 workers in order to distribute the impact among the entire workforce, so that it would amount to a maximum of two days per month per person.