Workers accuse Freixenet of "corporate terrorism" and threaten to take the ERE to court.

BarcelonaRepresentatives of the Freixenet Henkell company's workforce gathered this Thursday in front of the Catalan Parliament in Barcelona to demand "political action" in response to the redundancy plan (ERE) filed by the company's management last month, which provides for the dismissal of almost a quarter of the workforce. The president of the works council, Antonio Domínguez, has accused Freixenet of engaging in "corporate terrorism" and has stated that they are considering taking the case to court to determine whether it is legal.

On April 24, Freixenet's management filed the ERE, which would result in the destruction of 180 jobs (24% of the group's total), and the workforce responded by calling for a collective bargaining agreement. a four-day strike which will end this Friday. Unions and the company have held several meetings with no agreement in sight: "We haven't made any progress, we've gone backwards," Domínguez said of the meetings. The consultation period remains open until June 4, so the works council already warned on Tuesday that it could call for new actions next week.

During Thursday's protest, Domínguez went further and explained that union representatives are considering taking the ERE to court: "We don't rule out taking the situation to court and letting a judge determine if there is cause," he said before testifying before the Parliament's labor committee.

At the entrance to the chamber, several hundred workers accompanied the union representatives with banners against the ERE, whistles and firecrackers, and shouted slogans against the CAV management, such as "We are Catalans, we are not Germans," "Germans, sons of bitches," and "A German who doesn't vote." Since 2018, the German wine group Henkell, a subsidiary of the multinational food company Geschwister Oetker, has controlled 50.7% of Freixenet's shares. The protest took place the day after a demonstration of the staff in Sant Sadurní d'Anoia (Alt Penedès), where Freixenet has its headquarters.

The latest meeting between unions and the company soured the workforce when the company proposed cutting the number of layoffs if thirty employees agreed to relocate to the group's production centers in Germany or Italy. "There's no need to go to Germany to make a product that's ours," said Domínguez, who described cava as "a fundamental product that identifies Catalonia."

In recent months, Freixenet has launched a sparkling wine—aimed primarily at the German market—that it doesn't label as cava and that it makes with grapes from Castilla-La Mancha in a process that takes just four months, compared to the twelve required by the DO regulations. Part of its production is in wineries in Germany and Italy. Furthermore, Freixenet management wants to avoid the Telefónica clause, the legal doctrine that obliges companies to compensate the state for employees who take early retirement in a collective redundancy plan. "180 workers, most of whom are under 50 years old, is a difficult tragedy to overcome," said Domínguez, who represents the Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) union on the company committee.

"Short-term solutions"

According to the Freixenet union leader, the ERE "is intolerable" because, in his opinion, "it is supported by a drought that is no longer true." In fact, López has called for an investment plan to "diversify the productive fabric of the Penedès" and for union representation on the regulatory council of the DO Cava.