At the end of December 2021, the ERE at the Nissan plant in Barcelona left more than 2,500 people without work, now just over a year later, a total of 1,250 former employees are still waiting to be hired by the electromobility center , which has already promised to incorporate some 600 this year while formulas are studied so as not to leave anyone without income when unemployment is exhausted at the end of the year.
Once the management of the land occupied by Nissan in the Barcelona Free Trade Zone was awarded, the reindustrialization process faces a new stage marked by the calendar for the start-up of the new industrial activity, promoted by QEV Technologies and BTech.
The risk of running out of unemployment benefit
The hiring of former Nissan workers has thus become the main concern, especially for the unions, which fear that if imaginative formulas are not sought, a part of the workforce could be left without income before their relocation. The workers have been consuming unemployment since the Japanese automobile company closed its plants on December 31, 2021, with which the benefit was exhausted at the end of this 2023, reports EFE.
The ERE of Nissan left 2,525 employees without work, of which 1,100 agreed to early retirement and slightly less than 1,400 awaited relocation, although some 60 have found other outlets and have given up this option and others have been manufacturing Silence electric motorcycles, which already occupies a part of the Free Zone.
“Hiring must be accelerated and maximized to recover the time lost in the project award period. We will not consider reindustrialization closed until all the workers start working on the ‘hub’ or Silence projects” EFE, the person in charge of CCOO at the reindustrialization table, Roberto Carlos Pacheco.
The 600 contracts that the center or “hub” has been targeted for 2023 would not even cover half of the workers pending relocation (which right now are 1,250).
Option to reduce working hours
Faced with this situation, unions, ‘hub’ and the Department of Business of the Generalitat are studying measures such as offering reductions in voluntary hours so that the work can be distributed and, therefore, extend the hiring.
The working day would be extended when the production rate of the ‘hub’ increases, which plans to manufacture electric last-mile delivery vans under the Zeroid banner and resurrect the Ebro brand with a “pick up” based on the Nissan Navara.
Sources from the reindustrialization table have pointed out to EFE that talks are being held with the Generalitat and SEPE to explore the possibility of giving a salary supplement to employees who agree to reduce the working day.
As explained at the last meeting of the reindustrialization table, another way to “maximize” hiring would be for some Nissan workers to take on cleaning and maintenance tasks that were previously carried out by subcontractors.
mediate contracts
The unions hope that hiring will begin “imminently” once the final signing of the cross-agreements between the parties involved in the reindustrialization takes place next week, at which time the keys to the Free Zone will be handed over to the hub ‘.
The same sources of the table have indicated that the ‘hub’ expects to incorporate in the first place between 15 and 20 directors who will analyze the personnel needs and plan the set of contracts. It is taken for granted that the first additions, in addition to these ‘managers’, will be employees specialized in maintenance of the machinery that Nissan has transferred to the ‘hub’ and of the facilities in general.
All to set up a plant of about 500,000 m2, of which the ‘hub’ connected about 300,000 m2, while Goodman -the logistics operator that won the Free Zone contest- will directly operate about 100,000. The rest will be occupied by the Nissan technical center and the Silence two-seater vehicle factory.
“Nissan workers are trained to do any job,” said Roberto Carlos Pacheco, who predicts that the production of vehicles from the ‘hub’ will not start until 2024. The promoters of the ‘hub’ plan to announce next week the details of the project focused on electric mobility and the contracting calendar.
