The workers start the municipal support before the Saudi multinational applies the ERTE in January that will affect more than a third of its workforce
Sabic’s works council joined the Cartagena municipal government team on Friday in a meeting with the mayor, Noelia Arroyo, the vice mayor, Ana Belén Castejón, and the first deputy mayor, Manuel Padín. He is also holding talks with the rest of the parties to form a common political front that supports his demand for a feasibility plan that ensures the future of the La Aljorra factory. The prospects are not good. After stopping production indefinitely in September at its Lexan 2 polycarbonate plant, the company is negotiating a temporary employment regulation file (ERTE) that will affect 268 of the 460 employees, although over 106 jobs. It will begin on January 1 and end on June 30, 2023
“Although the company tells us that it is only temporary, we fear the worst, that there is a scheduled closure. But since there is no legal justification for an ERE, they are stopping plants and making temporary files, “said the president of the works council, Pascual Sánchez, after a meeting at the Palacio Consistorial.
The Saudi multinational justifies the ERTE in the drop in the production of next-generation plastics due to a slowdown in the markets as a result of the economic crisis. But the workers are also aware that production costs have skyrocketed in recent months due to the increase in the cost of raw materials, including natural gas. In this context, Sabic opened a factory in China at the beginning of this year capable of absorbing the production of the two polycarbonate plants -Lexan 1 and Lexan 2- in La Aljorra, “with cheaper labor and raw materials and without any environmental restriction. So we fear a relocation,” said Sánchez.
The workers are demanding a feasibility plan from the European and national management of Sabic, supported by the different administrations, which translates into a “clear commitment” about the future of the La Aljorra industrial site and erases any possibility of closure. In addition to its 460 employees, Sabic’s activity generates wealth for companies in the region that employ some five thousand people, according to Sánchez.
Of the four plastic manufacturing plants that Sabic has in Cartagena, three are stopped: Ultem, for two years and with no prospect of reopening; Lexan 2, from September and for an indefinite period; and Lexan 1, for maintenance until January, if there is no change in plans. The one in Compounding, the oldest, is the only one currently running.
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