The multinational FedEx, an American transport and logistics giant, intends to lay off 96 workers in Spain, particularly in the areas of customer service, sales and new technologies (IT). The measure is part of a strategy at European level aimed at reducing “structural costs” and which, in the case of Spain, goes hand in hand with the relocation and subcontracting of jobs to countries “with a cheaper labor and fewer rights,” like. Morocco, we explain from the UGT.
In June, the American parent company of FedEx announced its intention to reduce the workforce of FedEx’s commercial and administrative teams in Europe “between 1,700 and 2,000 people”, indicates the press release to which the multinational refers to questions from elDiario.es.
With an annual turnover of $88 billion worldwide, the giant FedEx has considerable, although declining, profits. A few days ago, it adjusted its forecast for the first quarter of 2025, to 890 million dollars, compared to 1,160 million in 2024.
A few days ago, FedEx began a collective dismissal procedure (ERE) in Spain, where it employs around 1,500 people, which resulted in its intention to terminate these 96 employment contracts. There are people affected in “Madrid, Barcelona (Zona Franca), Bilbao, Vitoria, Zaragoza, Seville, Valencia, Málaga and Cádiz”, explain union sources.
“The company has many advantages and, even if there is a loss of customers, it is for other reasons, such as airline integration or strategic projects of the company which, in our opinion, do not were not well oriented. But we pay as usual,” they criticize the UGT.
Subcontract to Morocco and relocate “cheaper”
FedEx cited the dismissal for “organizational reasons”, even if, with the information it transmitted to worker representatives, the UGT and CCOO denounce that it is a “simple economic interest” of the multinational, says Carlos Pellejero, general secretary of FSC-CCOO in Catalonia. “They want to eliminate work with rights and more protected by much cheaper labor and fewer rights. This is what we have on us, no more, no less,” lament UGT sources.
The unions explain that the company informed them that “a large part of the file, particularly in terms of customer service, will be outsourced and subcontracted to Morocco”, they explain to the UGT. Added to this is also a “relocation of jobs to FedEx centers in Türkiye, Poland and Portugal”.
Added to this are customer service and technological support positions which are supposed to disappear due to “automation of processes with artificial intelligence”, add the same sources.
The multinational said in its statement on job cuts in Europe that “some operations” would be located in others “that are located in countries better suited to our needs and FedEx’s existing real estate footprint.”
Same strategy in 2021: ERE and working in India
The unions, which will now try to reduce layoffs and guarantee people the best possible conditions, undermine the “economicist” behavior of FedEx, which also arouses fears among workers for the future. Because it rains in humid weather.
In 2021, the multinational presented another ERA in Spain, which affected “182 people”. “Previously, there were also two processes of substantial modification of working conditions which also caused the departure of certain colleagues”, who did not accept the reductions, we underline at the UGT.
The 2021 collective layoff led to further outsourcing and relocation, in this case “to India”, where the company’s billing services were mainly located, explains the union.
Workers’ representatives criticize these commercial maneuvers, which they consider unfair to workers, but which are also not always “cheaper” or more efficient for companies, because they pose their own problems by removing work from the productive mechanism . “We saw it with billing, with problems and many errors. Today, in sales and customer service, we fear that the situation will be worse,” they say from UGT.
