Freixenet has announced the intention of applying an employment regulation file (ERE) that will affect 180 employees of the group, 24% of the workforce.
Freixenet justifies the ERE “to restructure its production operations”, since the drought has pushed the CAVA sector “to an unprecedented crisis,” he says in a statement, with a 45% reduction in grape production in the Penedès (Barcelona) since 2022 and the consequent decrease in the availability of raw material and increase in costs.
“Cava production has decreased in the sector in general and in Freixenet in particular,” argues the company, which concludes that “reduced reserves and increased raw materials have aggravated the mismatch between market demand and operational sustainability.”
The ERE will incumbent to Freixenet and Safe Societies Widows, but which Commercial Freixenet Group is not affected. Currently, the Freixenet template is made up of 738 employees, so that maximum of 180 people who will be affected by the ERE represents 24.4 % of the total.
At the end of April 2024, the company announced a temporary employment regulation file (ERTE) to 615 workers for drought, which was discarded by the Generalitat by considering that drought was not a cause of force majeure. The company then presented another for economic, technical, organizational or production reasons that was active until December 31, 2024.
Finally, the company has now opted for an ERE. “The announced plan marks an important step towards the long -term sustainability of Freixenet. The company is determined to overcome this challenge being stronger,” he says in the statement.
“Extreme climatic patterns and the long -term consequences of the continuous drought of several years in Catalonia have created serious interruptions in the industry, pushing the Cava sector to an unprecedented crisis,” the company alleges.
Layoffs to be sustainable
“The fundamental change in market dynamics requires that the company take urgent measures to guarantee the sustainable development of the business in the future,” says Freixenet, who says he must “address reduced levels of production and align operations with the reality of the market”
“Freixenet intends to initiate a restructuring process that implies an ERE that will affect a maximum of 180 employees (…). The details of the process will be properly shared with the legal representation of the workers, as usual in the company, through an open dialogue when the negotiation required for this type of measure is initiated,” he says.
CCOO has branded this Thursday of “unfair” and “unacceptable” the ERE and has advanced that it will mobilize against those layoffs during the day of May 1. In a statement, CCOO, with 87.5 % representation in Freixenet, has claimed the group to “go back in its intentions and feel to negotiate” with the unions the appropriate measures to face the current situation of the sector, but “safeguarding employment”.
The union ensures that it has been denouncing the situation of the Cava sector for more than a year due to drought and climate change, and has requested the Cava Regulatory Council to work in “the search for solutions”.
Among them, “the regulatory framework of production, as other national and international denominations of origin to face this crisis.”
“This is essential to preserve the future of the sector and the use of workers,” he said, and has urged both this regulatory council and the Ministry of Agriculture to meet their considerations.
The company emphasizes that this process addresses “with a deep awareness of the impact on employees and their families” and that aims to manage the “most sensitive way possible, prioritizing support for employees.”
Although Freixenet has not disseminated its 2024 accounts, last month the Denomination of Origin Cava, which brings together the main producers of Cava in Spain, such as Freixenet or Codorníu, among others, announced that in 2024 the producers of Cava had sold 218 million bottles, 13.4 % less, although the price increase caused the billing to fall only 4.2 %.
Specifically, sales in Spain declined 3.56 %, but abroad collapsed 18 %, affected by the effects of drought, which have made Cava’s stocks reduce.
In the absence of seeing what impact on the tariff crisis, drought has gone to the foreign markets.
In Germany, for example, a key market, Cava producers suffered the lack of product and sold only about 11 million bottles, 19.9 million less.
JD/HM/SGB
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