Tubacex managers have sent a letter to several organizations explaining the company’s intentions. The management has described the situation of the club as "unsustainable" and explained that the forecast for the next two years is "absolutely negative", with losses of 18 million euros by 2021.

Tubacex CEO Jesús Esmorís has announced the decision to take "tougher measures" in the South American country. The company announced the dismissal of 150 workers, in order to maintain the economic losses. Esmoris explained that "non-traumatic" measures have also been put on the table and accused trade unions of refusing to negotiate these proposals. One of the management’s proposals was to reduce wages by 9% and to raise working hours to 40 hours, as Esmoris explained.

Tubacex, for its part, has recently stated that it has liquidity to deal with loans up to 2024, amounting to EUR 236.9 million.

Response from the Works Committee

The Tubacex Works Council has published a note in response to the address’s letter. They denounce that the report of the management is "partial". They have strongly criticised the fact that, once again, the company’s intentions have been known through the press: “This behavior is becoming the company’s usual modus operandi.”

They have explained that they have not met with workers' representatives since the last ERTE was introduced. Workers are immersed in the second employment regulation dossier of the year and, as they have pointed out, work more than 20% of the production established by the company: “The management does not want to bet on the future of these factories or recognize the effort we workers are making with ABLEE.”

As to the economic losses, the committee explained that although the Aiaraldea factories account for 80 per cent of the profits of the Tubacex group, these profits are attributed to other factories.

The workers have warned that they will not accept cuts or redundancies from the workers. In the opinion of the Works Council, “it is unacceptable to announce more traumatic measures through the press without meeting the committee beforehand”.

Mobilisations against redundancies

Tubacex announced in July its intention to cut its labour costs by 20%, dismissing 500 workers from its group around the world. This measure would result in about 150 redundancies at the plants in the region. As a result, the company planned to save around EUR 10 million in civil liability. The workers expressed their rejection of the redundancies and organized several demonstrations in defense of employment in the region: