I come to a significant example that is happening in the Basque car industry. For half a year (01-09-2023), 148 automotive workers Mecaner Urduliz (Uribe Kosta) are about to lose their jobs. The company is viable and has production orders, but the automotive multinational Stellantis decided to close the workshop to bring production to China.

Stellantis. This giant multinational has three teams: FCA Italy (Fiat, Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Maserati...) FCA US (Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram Trucks...) and Groupe PSA (Peugeot, Motoropens, Vës). Yes, all these car brands are in the hands of a single multinational corporation. According to their data, it had 281,595 workers in December 2021 and the same year declared 15,428,000,000 euros of profit. In order to make more money, Stellantis wants to close Mecaner, send some workers to other workplaces and fix redundancies with compensation. A gross market law!

Eco-social alternative. The Works Committee asked the Municipality of Urduliz (EH Bildu) to cooperate in carrying out a study with eco-social criteria for the feasibility study of the company. With this clear objective, we are committed to the future of workers and decent employment and the social and ecological sustainability of the region.

The implementation of a plan for a productive transformation will not be easy, but experience can be very exemplary in the face of other industrial conflicts that will come. The eco-social alternative involves the transformation of the productive process. The draft plan offers the possibilities for four different products. This requires the right machinery, training of staff and capital (public and private)… but above all enough social force to promote this alternative plan.

The eco-social transition implies competition between agents. And the change that is taking place today is being led by the multinationals and the economic elites, in the logic of capital and against the majority of society. We therefore need to forge a strong alliance between trade union and eco-social movements in order to call on public administrations and political authorities to support the plan. Some will tell us that this is “to follow the logic of the market and capitalism”, but it is essential to take steps to imagine fairer futures and to demonstrate that the path towards a fairer eco-social metamorphosis is possible. Mecaner do not close!