The Basque group Aernnova has sold one of the two company branches of Serra Soldadura at auction, the Barcelona industrial company it has owned since 2008 and for which it has filed for voluntary liquidation. According to the works councils of Serra Soldadura, the sale will only serve to safeguard 10 of the 190 jobs the company has.

This Wednesday, line 1 of workshop 10 at the Seat factory in Martorell has begun the series assembly of the Cupra Raval and the Volkswagen ID Polo, the first 100% electric cars produced at the plant. The launch of production materializes the great efforts the factory has made to electrify: 300 million euros have been invested in the Catalan plant to set up a battery assembly factory, and, furthermore, one of the three production lines has also been adapted to be able to manufacture electric vehicles. In recent years, no 100% electric vehicles were manufactured in Catalonia, although one was produced until the Nissan plant in the Zona Franca of Barcelona closed, the Nissan e-NV200 van.

Ficosa'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.

There has long been talk in the Blaugrana news about the launch of Barça Mobile. The project, which Joan Laporta defined as a "gold mine" during its presentation, had been stalled for months and, as ARA already explained, even its suppliers were wondering why they were waiting so long to launch it. After more than a year of work, however, the operator began to be marketed a few days before the elections to Barça. However, the launch has been marked by the silence of the club and New Era Visionary Group Iberia —the company in charge of carrying out the project—, who have not wanted to make much noise nor have they started any commercial campaign.

Employment in Catalonia breaks a new record, reaching 4 million. Specifically, according to data released this Tuesday by the Ministry of Social Security, 3.97 million Catalans were registered as affiliates to the organization in May, representing an increase of 1.28% compared to April. This is the second consecutive month that the Catalan labor market has broken the record for active employees. Furthermore, compared to May of last year, 89,882 jobs have been created in Catalonia, placing the figure 2.32% higher year-on-year.

The company Guala Closures—specializing in the manufacture of bottle caps— has notified its staff of its intention to file for a collective redundancy procedure (ERO) at its plant located in Olèrdola (Alt Penedès). According to union sources, the company plans to lay off 82 of the 87 employees working at the center.

Labour absenteeism has become in recent times one of the main battlehorses for the Catalan business fabric. People who miss work – both for justified and unjustified reasons – are at historic highs, up to 7.4% across the Spanish territory, according to a report by the Valencian Institute of Economic Research (IVIE). However, this figure has been driven by a large increase in absences: temporary incapacities are already the cause of almost 80% of effective non-worked hours and the absenteeism rate for this reason stands at 5.8%.

A report by the Council for Work, Economy and Social Affairs of Catalonia (CTESC) delves into the role of newcomers in the country's economic fabric and focuses on the significant differences they have compared to nationals regarding occupational conditions. A clear example of this inequality is found in salaries: according to the study, the gross annual salary of foreigners is 22.3% lower than that of Spanish nationals. This difference currently translates into an average of 6,891.64 euros less gross per year.

When contracting a mortgage, interested parties pay banks certain provisions that are used to pay taxes, fees, and registrations. It is normal for the bank to temporarily hold the corresponding amount and for, later, an agency to handle all the required bureaucracy. However, in this context, a situation has come to light that would have left an as-yet-unspecified number of users unprotected. This is the case of the Tecnotramit agency.

Ficosa workers begin an indefinite strike in protest of the dismissals planned by the company. This Thursday, union representatives and the company met to renegotiate the impacts, and the number of dismissals was reduced from the initial 172 to 113. Specifically, the reduction was made through two channels: on one hand, the automotive components company agreed to transform the impacts in the engineering department into an ERTO (Temporary Employment Regulation File) of 18 months for 38 workers. And, on the other hand, of the 125 dismissals planned for the production plant, the figure has been reduced to 113.

As Pedro Sánchez announced at the end of last year, the Spanish government has set the goal that, by 2035, no more combustion vehicles will be sold. To achieve this, the head of the executive presented the Auto Spain 2030 Plan, also called the Auto+ plan, which, through 25 measures comprised in five pillars, aims to boost innovation in the automotive industry in Spanish territory. This Thursday, at an event held at Casa Seat in Barcelona, the sector presented the opportunities that the plan can create in Catalonia. "We have a historic opportunity to lead the new era of mobility," assured the CEO of Seat and Cupra, Markus Haupt.

It was planned that this Wednesday morning the future of the historic Barcelona industrial company Serra Soldadura would reach a turning point. After Aernnova – owner of the company since 2008 – filed for voluntary liquidation bankruptcy to dissolve Serra Soldadura, this Wednesday the auction of the two companies that form it was scheduled. However, as union sources explain to ARA, the auction has been declared void after no potential buyer has come forward. "We didn't expect this," explain CGT sources, which holds the union majority in the company.

One in four Catalan workers are exposed to the implementation of artificial intelligence. Specifically, a study by the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce details that 26.5% of employed individuals have medium or high exposure, while 29% of workers would not experience any impact from the technology. By gender, women also present a higher percentage of exposure at all ages, and the gap is even more pronounced between those aged 35-44 and those aged 45-54, where 22.6% and 23.8%, respectively, could be highly affected. It should be noted that the study's exposure level does not solely measure the risk of substitution, but also the potential for task transformation.

In recent years, the role of immigration has been placed right at the center of the country's social debate. And, in economic terms, arguments for and against have suggested that it both enriches and impoverishes us. But, really, what are the jobs that immigrants hold in Catalonia? What type of foreigner has more weight in each sector? This year's extraordinary regulation has amplified the debate on whether demographic growth will or will not be sustainable in the long term. For now, a large part of the business community has not hesitated to position itself in favor, seeing foreign talent as the best way to fill the gaps in the Catalan labor market.

The real estate company Tecnotramit, specializing in managing assets for large holders and investment funds, plans to enter bankruptcy proceedings next week, according to union sources. The company, which at the beginning of the year had a workforce of around 860 employees, communicated the new scenario to labor representatives this Tuesday. The situation has accelerated after it came to light in March that the company allegedly improperly withheld funds from individuals, leading to the withdrawal of its main clients, such as Banco Sabadell, CaixaBank, and Bankinter.

Nissan specifies the impact of the employment regulation file (ERE) it will implement in Catalonia. Specifically, as confirmed to ARA by union sources, the Japanese firm will dismiss 211 workers at its centers in the Zona Franca and El Prat, where it has two plants: the spare parts center and the flexible areas center. Currently, Nissan employs 569 people in Catalonia. The company alleged two weeks ago that the dismissals were due to organizational and productive reasons.

Indra presents the plan to boost its role in Catalonia. The defense and security company has staged its commitment to the territory with an event organized at the Barcelona Port's Tinglados. The group's new chairman, Àngel Simón, and its CEO, José Vicente de los Mozos, have explained their objectives in Catalonia: to generate 1,500 new jobs and increase their turnover to 550 million euros by 2027. The group currently employs 3,500 professionals and generates sales of 366 million with its 8 headquarters in the territory. Indra's major staging in Catalonia comes just after the arrival of Simón as non-executive chairman of Indra. The former CEO of Criteria inaugurates his public agenda with this Monday's session.

During the last ten years, the number of foreign workers in Catalonia has doubled and they now total 773,000 employed. A report by Foment del Treball estimates the increase in this group between the first quarter of 2016 and that of 2026 at 386,700 people. The strong growth has boosted their weight in the net new employment created in Catalonia over the last decade, to the point of absorbing more than half (52.3%). This figure places the country almost 15 percentage points above the national average, which stands at 37.5%, despite La Rioja (55.2%), Castilla y León (58.9%), and the Basque Country (59.2) having larger proportions.

"It's not about not installing solar panels or wind turbines, it's about doing it well and with common sense". In recent years, Catalonia has not been able to progress enough in renewable energies and currently the country is very far from the objectives set by both the European Union and the Parliament of Catalonia itself. But how should they be deployed in the territory? Where should solar panels or wind turbines be installed? In an event organized by the Institut d’Estudis Catalans (IEC) and ARA, a reflection was held this Tuesday on which areas should be explored in order to protect agricultural land as much as possible.

A study by Foment del Treball estimates the investment deficit in Catalan infrastructures at 49,543 million euros between 2009 and 2025. "It is alarming, profoundly indignant, and absolutely intolerable," stated the president of the entity, Josep Sánchez Llibre, this Monday during the presentation of the report. And the trend is not reversing: according to the president of the employers' association, the situation has been aggravated by a "disastrous" public management that "is not corrected, but rather becomes more serious each time."