Bimbo announced this Wednesday the closure of its Valladolid factory, which directly employs 166 workers, joined by 40 other subcontractors. Furthermore, the company has summoned union representatives to a first meeting of the Employment Regulation File (ERE) negotiation committee which will take place next Wednesday, September 25, starting at 11 a.m.
The chairman of the Works Council, Félix Fernández, representing CCOO, assured that They were left “empty” when they learned of the plans. of the company, to which they were transferred during what was in principle a “regular meeting” between the national operations manager and the human resources manager, with no other explanation than the low production of the various Spanish factories.
Starting next week, the company and workers’ representatives will begin contact with the ERE negotiating committee, which has 30 days to reach an agreement. However, Félix Fernández has indicated that his intention is succeed in maintaining the viability of the Valladolid plantlocated in the industrial area of San Cristóbal, in order to prevent 200 workers from being left on the street.
To this end, the Enterprise Commission is maintaining contacts with the City Council of Valladolid and the Regional Government of Castilla y León. A first meeting is scheduled for this Thursday crisis protocol meeting, According to the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Employment, Leticia García, her department will not participate as a labor authority, but her colleagues from Agriculture and Economy and Finance will.
Garcia acknowledged that it was a “worrying” situation, that they met early in the afternoon by email. In the absence of an official arrival at the Territorial Labor Office of Valladolid, given that the factory is located here, the councilor stressed that they are working “to see if this situation can be reversed.”
As he pointed out, the crisis protocol will apply, as agreed within the social dialogue since 2013, to seek solutions to closures or relocations.
If the closure of Valladolid is carried out, it would be added to others carried out by Bimbo, such as the one carried out this year in the El Verger factory in Alicante and in 2022 the Paracuellos del Jarama factory (Madrid).
The Works Council expects the company to explain the reasons justifying the closure as well as its plans for production and workers. Even if the objective is to maintain the activity, otherwise They will negotiate different measuressuch as transfers, compensation or early retirement, among others.
At the moment, some of the brand’s best-known products come out of the ovens of the Bimbo factory in Valladolid, such as its famous donuts -glass and candy-, pepitos, Donettes, Trigetón and Mini bollycaos.
The company has another production center in Medina del Campo (Valladolid), as well as others in Barcelona or Azuqueca de Henares.
The Alicante plant was the last of the group’s factories to close. Located in the municipality of El Verger, an emblematic factory that was over fifty years old, it employed ninety workers. Bimbo’s roadmap included the closure of the Alicante plant and the transfer of its production to Barcelona. It produced toast and Takis snacks, a product for which the company opened a line in the Catalan factory of Santa Perpétua.
