Nissan Motor stated on Tuesday it is willing to postpone the closure of its Barcelona plants until June 2021 and talk about “everything” with unions, but insisted it observes no alternative to the factories shutting.
The three Barcelona plants, which hire about 3,000 workers, were due to close by December this year.
The postponement depends on reaching a deal with unions prior to July 30 or early August that would imply restarting production, which was stopped in May, and agreeing on the compensation that employees would get once the plants close, a top Nissan executive informed reporters.
In exchange, Nissan would not carry out layoffs until the end of 2020 but would maintain its strategy to fire at least around 2,500 workers once the factories close, Frank Torres, the head of the Japanese automaker’s industrial operations in Spain, said.
The decision to close them was announced in May as part of a turnaround plan for the automaker, resulting in protests by workers and a commitment by Madrid to convince the automaker to stay.
The industry ministry was “closely following” the discussions between the company and union representatives, a spokesperson stated and “hoped the final decision is to keep the automotive activity in Barcelona”.
Javier Hernandez, UGT union leader at the automaker, said it was “very complicated” to reach a deal with the automaker in the next two weeks, especially if it maintains its layoff strategies because it would discourage workers to go back to the plants.
But he supported the postponement of their shut down. “Anything that implies gaining time is essential for us because we have to find an industrial alternative.”
Hernandez added he was afraid the automaker would not help find a company that could be interested in its plants if employees agree in the coming weeks on the compensation they would get once the plants fully close.
On whether the closure was irreversible as the automaker has been insisting, Torres said closing them was the only viable option even if it received a new public aid package, adding there were no solid offers for now from other companies.
“We are willing to talk about everything”, Torres said.
The plants, which have been operating since the 1980s, largely produce electric vans and pickup trucks and are the automaker’s main European plants after the one in the UK.
