The Pascual workers in Gurb approve compensation equivalent to that of an unfair dismissal
The plant will pass into the hands of Casa Tarradellas next July 31st
BarcelonaGreen light for an agreement to end the negotiations on the employment regulation file (ERO) presented by Leche Pascual at its Gurb plant, in Osona. As reported by Col·lectiu Ronda —the cooperative of lawyers who advised the workers during the process—, on Friday night the staff voted favorably on an agreement to terminate the 86 jobs at the plant.
The agreement with the company provides that the severance pay will be equivalent to that of an unfair dismissal: generally, dismissed persons will receive severance pay of 33 days of salary per year worked. And, in the case of contracts prior to February 12, 2012, 45 days per year will be calculated for the period worked before that date and 33 days for the subsequent period, in accordance with the regulations applicable to unfair dismissals.
The agreement between the staff and Leche Pascual comes a few days before the Castilian company definitively leaves Osona. On July 31, the plant, which until now was dedicated to milk packaging, will pass into the hands of Casa Tarradellas, which will use it for mozzarella production. From that date, the dairy company will complete the transfer of production to other company centers, mainly in the province of Burgos. The compensation pact, therefore, definitively closes the door to the dairy company's offer to transfer workers to a Leche Pascual plant in Aranda del Duero.
No offer from Casa Tarradellas
Furthermore, as explained by Col·lectiu Ronda, "despite Leche Pascual's repeated references to the possibility that the laid-off employees could be hired by Casa Tarradellas, there is currently no formal offer" from the Catalan company. For this reason, the lawyers' cooperative assures that, a few days before the change of ownership, "there is no real job alternative for the laid-off employees." Moreover, as reported by ARA last week, the potential jobs that Casa Tarradellas would have made available to the affected workers would not be linked to the Gurb plant.
It should be recalled that, at the beginning of last week, labor representatives rejected another offer from the company that they considered "insufficient". That proposal included severance pay amounting to 3.5 million euros. Thus, according to sources close to the negotiations speaking to ARA, it did not reflect "the extremely positive situation" of the company. Last year, the company invoiced more than 398 million euros packaging milk and sold the Gurb factory to Casa Tarradellas for 20.4 million.
In a statement, Col·lectiu Ronda has described the agreement as "the best possible outcome" within the current legal framework and has argued that the case highlights the limitations of current legislation in preventing the closure of profitable workplaces. "The case of Leche Pascual in Gurb demonstrates how the current regulations allow companies with excellent economic results to close profitable centers, relocate production, and make layoffs a mere element of their profit-increasing strategy, without considering the personal, family, and social damage caused by the closure of facilities like those in Gurb, the largest dairy plant in Catalonia," they stated.
The cooperative has also criticized the role of public administrations, which it considers "insufficient" to preserve "the continuity of the plant, jobs, and an increasingly weakened Catalan dairy and livestock sector."