Tubacex has today transferred to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) the economic results of the first half of this year. Most media headlines indicate that the multinational has lost EUR 23.3 million since the beginning of the year. But what's behind that data?

First of all, it should be pointed out that the economic performance of large companies must be taken with care, and even more so those of Tubacex. In fact, the company’s unions have repeatedly denounced that management has done accounting engineering to, among other things, symbolise that Aiaraldea’s factories are not profitable. In the judgments handed down by the High Court of Justice of the Basque Country, it was also apparent that the company inflicted losses to justify redundancies (for example, it accounted for this year’s severance payments in 2020 expenses).

Impact of the strike on the results

If you read the report prepared by Tubacex’s management, there is one thing that attracts attention: That the word “strike” is nowhere mentioned. However, the influence of the struggle of the workers in Aiaraldea is indirectly recognized. In fact, according to the document, production has been reduced in all the factories of the multinational world, but this drop in production has had a "special impact" on the plants of Aiaraldea, where the restructuring process initiated by the group, i.e. the layoffs, "is pending resolution" and "need to take action again".

However, Jesús Esmorís has completed this restructuring process and has emphasised that in total more than EUR 30 million have been saved, which means the dismissal of 500 workers worldwide.

The CEO of Tubacex has argued that the main objective of the restructuring has been the preparation for the “energy transition”, but it is noteworthy that the exploitation of gas will play a “key role” in this energy transition, in search of “clean energies”, despite the fact that this type of energy is neither renewable nor environmentally friendly (it should be noted that many of the pipelines that Tubacex has used for the gas sector).

In other words, Tubacex has not yet proposed an exceptional energy transition, but has used that excuse to justify layoffs. In short, if focusing on the gas market is the strategic plan that has devised the direction to deal with the alleged crisis in the Gas&Oil sector, it does not seem that it has made a very deep thought.

In short, the "strategic plan", which has been considered a wonderful solution in the shareholders' meeting and in various reports, has been based solely on hundreds of redundancies and everything else has been merely marketing.

This has been understood by many, for it cannot be explained in any other way that the actions of a company in a supposed critical situation increase in recent months, as the multinational itself acknowledges.

EUR 220 million in liquidity and more applications

Esmoris has been optimistic for the coming months. “Order entry is growing, the portfolio is growing and productive activity is recovering in all units,” said the manager, “With all this, we are confident that in the second part of the year the results will gradually improve and we anticipate a more significant recovery in 2022.”

In addition, Tubacex highlighted something else in its results report: It has EUR 190 million in cash and total liquidity of EUR 220 million. According to the company's estimates, this money is enough to cover all debts until 2025. And it should be noted that the debts have increased to meet the severance payments.

Lack of time and urgency

So if you have money and orders, what's missing from Tubacex? Staff. In this sense, a change of attitude can be observed in the direction. In a letter sent in May by Esmoris to the workers, the CEO suggested that the company could keep the strike until next year, when the Madrid Supreme Court resolved the appeal against eviction sentences. But, in view of the moves made in recent days, it seems that they are in a hurry.

And it's no coincidence. The month of August is about to start, and that month is fundamental in the activity of the workshops in Aiaraldea, to do the maintenance of the machines and to leave everything ready for the beginning of the course. In addition, these works are even greater, as machines have been paralyzed since the beginning of the year. This has been acknowledged by the management itself in the letters sent to the workers during the strike.

In addition, it should be noted that workers have the right to enjoy their holidays, as they have not exercised them during the strike. Therefore, despite the fact that the strike has suddenly ended, they would be entitled to those days of leisure with the freezing of production.

More than money, it is time that Tubacex is losing, and hence the change of strategy he has had in recent days can emerge: It has gone from being abandoned by the workshops to wanting to give a normal appearance, although to do so it has had to reuse buses and dozens of police officers. The Basque Government and EITB have also contributed to the appearance of normality, among other things, by quoting yesterday’s Teleberri the return to work of the workers, when it is clearly false.

However, this change in strategy does not alter the root of the problem: To meet Esmoris’s optimistic expectations, the leadership has to end the strike inevitably, and soon. To do so, it has two ways: to continue with the strategy of intoxication and erosion that has existed so far and to try to regain the unity of workers or satisfy the demand of workers since the beginning of the conflict: to ensure that there will be no layoffs either now or in a year’s time.