Seat has threatened to scrap an €700m investment plan to shore up its business if workers don’t accept a redundancy plan aimed at cutting 1,346 workers from its payroll.
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The ailing Volkswagen subsidiary is worried about the “stalled” state of the negotiations and refused to re-initiate talks until workers call off a 24-hour strike, which began last night.
According to trade union officials, most of Seat’s 12,000 workers have supported the action (its second 24-hour stoppage in just over a month) and attended a large demonstration in Barcelona today to demand an end to the job cuts.
Seat, unions and the government have set a 4 December 4 deadline to hammer out a new labour deal. Unions want Seat to either scrap the plan or provide workers over 58 years old (about 1,000) with early retirement benefits.
Thursday’s strikes come shortly after VW approved a €700m capital expenditure plan to rescue Seat, which is reeling from a global sales slump and high labour costs.
Seat chairman Andreas Schleef said the decision was a big boost for the “ ‘New Seat’ programme, which is working energetically to build a completely new company” that will be more customer focused, more competitive and profitable.
The funds will be used to streamline production to improve quality while reducing costs. They will also go towards research and to enhance the company’s technological capabilities, Seat said.
The turnaround scheme “clears out the thick fog surrounding Seat’s future,” said Matias Carnero, Seat’s workers committee chief.
The strategy calls for Seat’s Martorell plant to build the new Ibiza in 2008 and another undisclosed new model. Seat also plans to restructure its commercial and marketing operations to position itself more competitively through lower pricing and savvier promotions, according to Carnero.
Ivan Castano
