“Today we are going to talk about a painting company, Vallejo, whose workers are on strike, and what we can do to support them.” This is how the banner British The Honest Wargamer to his 15,000 Twitch subscribers. “I’m not going to buy Vallejo paints while they’re on strike!” Englishman Hellstorm Mikey also commented on his YouTube channel. influencer of the world of Warhammer miniatures, to the approval of the majority of his followers.
What began as a partial strike this Monday at the Acrylicos Vallejo paint factory, in the Barcelona town of Vilanova i la Geltrú, has become a motive for many fans of miniature painting, especially those related to war games. war games. This is not a coincidence. From its factory in Spain, the Vallejo brand is a world leader in acrylic paints for Warhammer miniatures, perhaps the most popular in this sector.
Called by the CGT union, it is an unlimited two-hour strike per shift – that is to say partial – which has so far succeeded in controlling almost all of its 74 employees. What the staff are demanding is an improvement in safety and hygiene conditions, which they consider “very poor”, as well as a 15% salary increase, in line with the increase in the figure of business that, according to them, the company has experienced since the pandemic caused a new boom enthusiasts of model making and modeling.
“The installations are collapsing, the ceiling has holes, and there are machines that are held together with cardboard and adhesive tape,” denounces Patricia Pérez, president of the works council. The company plans to open a new factory throughout 2025, with greater production capacity, approximately two kilometers from the current one. But employees estimate that it will take more time. “Job security cannot wait,” says Pérez.
The company responds that safety is one of its priorities and that is why it has invested up to 375,000 euros in 2023 to condition the plant. “During the transition period until the move to the new factory,” they say in a statement, “the company provides means to improve machine maintenance through the hiring of a maintenance manager, as well as as well as investments to improve production teams.
Regarding wages, they add that the general agreement for the chemical industry sector already provides for an increase of 10.3%, corresponding to the increase in the CPI between 2021 and 2023, in addition to 3% for 2024 From there, Management proposes to link other increases “until an improvement in productivity”. But the latter is rejected by employees, who consider that their salaries, of around 20,000 euros per year, are “too precarious” to live in a province like Barcelona, and that the increase should not be conditional.
A family business in the hands of a fund
The services also report that dialogue with the company has deteriorated since its acquisition by a venture capital fund, Proa Capital, at the end of 2023. Until then, Acrylicos Vallejo was considered a family business, run by the Vallejo family . Founded in 1965 in the United States, it moved to Vilanova i la Geltrú in 1969 and has been producing art paintings ever since.
Its great success was to position itself as a reference in model making. Their latest billing data shows that in 2022 they made €17 million in sales and closed the year with four million euros in profit. Today they export to 55 countries and fans of Warhammer and its variants around the world know that there are only two major paint brands: Citadel – made by the Warhammer company itself – and Vallejo. “The debate between the two tables in the world is like that between Apple and Samsung,” summarizes a lover of fantastic models and miniatures.
Millions of colorful bottles leave the Vilanova i la Geltrú warehouse every year and end up on the shelves of stores specializing in miniatures and in the studios not only of Warhammer enthusiasts, but also of authentic influencers within this community. Since Monday, the CGT union has received messages from prescribers from countries such as the United States, Brazil, Australia, Sweden, France and the United Kingdom.
Fans between boycott and request for directives
Some Warhammer enthusiasts have called for a boycott of Vallejo from their social networks, although workers, surprised by the avalanche of support, clarify that they are not asking people to stop buying the product. “What we demand is diffusion and that our situation is known so that the company sits down to negotiate,” explains Pérez. “At the end of the day, the company is big and has a good reputation,” he adds.
Many people, on X, Bluesky or Reddit, have expressed their sympathy for the demands of the workers, in addition to praising the quality of the brand. One of the first was Louise Sugden, graphic designer, youtuber and a well-known figure in the Warhammer universe. “We like your paintings but we like more that your workers have fair wages,” he published this week in X.
Others influencers Among the sectors that supported the union cause are the French Cerberus XT or the YouTuber Dungeons & Discourse. And Wargamer magazine, one of the best known in the sector, and Goobertown miniature painter Brent, of the Goobertown Hobbies channel, with 250,000 subscribers, also contacted the strikers. “The community of art and leisure “We see you and appreciate the work you are doing, we wish you a quick and successful resolution,” the latter said.
For now, the conflict continues. Representatives of the company and workers met Friday noon at the Ministry of Labor during a first mediation session which ended without agreement. From Acrylicos Vallejo, they insist that their intention is to “dialogue and find a solution” to a strike that they consider “disproportionate”.
