On Tuesday morning, Mercedes announced that it has submitted an ERTE (ERTE) for almost all of the workforce, for reasons of force majeure and until the end of the state of alarm, i.e. from 16 March, the date on which production was suspended, until 11 April, for now.

The file will affect some 5,000 plant workers, with the exception of one of them. The Works Council has asked the management to make an effort to complete the wages for the duration of the ETF, as the unemployment benefit covers only 70% of the staff salary.

However, the management of Mercedes-Benz in Vitoria-Gasteiz has stated that it needs the authorisation of the multinational to reach such an agreement and will meet again in the coming days.

The company has acknowledged in the report that 14 positive cases have been confirmed among workers and that more than 300 are in compulsory isolation at home.

- How many would now be infected?

The ELA trade union applauded in a statement the "exemplary attitude" of the workers and the works council to the peaceful action initiated last week to halt the production of the wine plant: "If Mercedes's normal activity had been maintained, as the leadership and the Basque Government intended, how many more people would now be infected in Vitoria-Gasteiz? he criticized the union.

In addition, ELA has strongly criticized the company's position and has considered that the TEU it presents is a proposal "argued for reasons of force majeure, without guarantees or protection over legality, and without acknowledging the evidence of the impossibility of complying with basic protection measures".

"It's time for Mercedes and the rest of the companies to model and express real concern about what is important: the health and well-being of the people we are part of society," said ELA, who has asked the company to put in place measures to protect people.