On Tuesday night there was news that Siemens Gamesa was closing the Aoiz plant. Workers, trade unions and institutions have joined in protest at the unilateral decision of the company, which has been rejected by the unions. In addition, all parties have been convinced that the company will turn back and will do its best to maintain the opening of the factory.

From Altsasu factory to Aoiz factory

The Siemens Gamesa plant in Aoiz has 239 workers, including a large number of people. In fact, when Gamesa closed the Alsasua plant, which had 150 workers in 2010, that same year opened the Aoiz plant that allowed the 55 workers of the Alsasua plant (and Imarkoain 14 others) to continue at the Alsasua plant. 10 years later, these Sakana workers are in the same situation. On the other hand, in the worst case scenario, Siemens Gamesa explained that Aoiz’s company is not competitive and that it will close the company by dismissing all its workers. In the worst case scenario, workers have not been given the option of moving to another company.

Causes of the Portuguese company and factory

Siemens Gamesa’s decision to close the Aoiz plant was announced in a message sent Tuesday night. The decision was taken for reasons of competitiveness and location, according to the spokesman for the Basque Government. Siemens Gamesa will close the Aoiz plant “for the highest cost of the Aoiz plant and its geographical location 200 kilometers from the nearest port”, because “it is not competitive for exports” and “to improve its long-term competitiveness”. In this respect, it is known that Siemens Gamesa has just bought a factory in Vagos, in Portugal, less than a kilometre from the port of Aveiro, and the workers and trade unions think that they want to move this company, in short, to relocation.

The company Siemens purchased Gamesa in 2017 and the majority trade union in the Company Committee, ELA, considered that the origin of the relocation occurred when the multinational company Siemens took over. The ELA union believes that the Aoiz plant is viable and that it has a workload, according to ELA. The factory is still in operation and the workers are already working on it. The ELA trade union added that last week the company informed the Works Committee that the workload was insured for the whole year.

Call to fight not to close the company

The Chairman of the Works Council, Alfonso Poyo (ELA), has made it clear that “the factory is a clear move”, that the Aoiz factory will not be closed “without a fight” and that all the unions are “agreed”. “We want to keep the plant and all the jobs. That’s our goal and we don’t rule out anything that allows us to keep our factory open,” Poyo explained.