Acerinox, concerning the Campo de Gibraltar manufacturing facility: “We are Spanish, we are not going to close or sell” | EUROtoday

The staff of the Los Barrios manufacturing facility, within the coronary heart of Campo de Gibraltar in Cádiz, preserve a strike that has lasted for the final 75 days and wherein even the minimal companies aren’t being fulfilled. With a manufacturing facility utterly paralyzed, the corporate hopes to quickly attain an settlement with the almost 1,700 staff it has on employees for the signing of the IV Collective Agreement in what’s the group's principal stainless-steel manufacturing facility in Europe and the nice emblem, In quick, for the Spanish agency. It additionally has VDM Metals in Germany, centered on particular alloys, which was acquired in 2020.

“We have always been willing to negotiate,” says Bernardo Velzquez, CEO of Acerinox. The final proposal that’s on the desk is being negotiated today and the corporate hopes that “common sense prevails” and that an settlement is reached between the 5 unions representing the employees and the corporate itself. In any case, and although The manufacturing facility has had zero manufacturing for nearly three monthsAcerinox's prime officers deny that its closure was by no means on the desk. “We are Spanish and we are not considering closing or selling,” said this morning in Madrid the president of the corporate, Carlos Ortega. “There has been no discussion of closing the factory, but with four of the last five years in losses, I'm surprised they don't realize the problems we have.”, continued the president. The negotiations are going by an important week, and, it appears, the settlement could be a lot nearer.

The firm focuses on in search of “the viability” of Algeciras and to this finish it has proposed to the employees the necessity to implement a sure “flexibility” in schedules, holidays and in addition of their capabilities inside the manufacturing facility as a result of the target is to cease rely a lot on the commodities (uncooked supplies) to create stainless-steel and go one step additional and be capable to deliver a part of the manufacturing from Germany to Spain and manufacture excessive added worth alloys right here the place they’d not discover a rival amongst Chinese corporations. Unfair competitors from Chinese producers stays a dramatic drawback for the business. They alone are able to producing 75% of the whole world's provide of stainless-steel. They play, we should not neglect, with different guidelines, each labor and environmental, which permits them to supply and promote at a decrease price.

But the Algeciras manufacturing facility has had issues for years, not solely on account of macroeconomic points, but in addition on account of a historic denunciation of the Spanish metal business ass the excessive price of vitality. In latest years, Acerinox has been compelled to approve totally different ERTEs (Temporary Employment Regulation File) for its staff as a result of want to shut its manufacturing facility as a result of producing at such excessive electrical energy costs made it unprofitable to place merchandise available on the market. .

The actuality is that Spain, by way of earnings, is more and more much less related for the corporate in comparison with the US, which doesn’t cease rising. There, Acerinox has North American Stainless (NAS, for its acronym) in Kentucky, which has lengthy represented greater than half of its revenues, however this determine might exceed 65% as soon as the acquisition of Haynes worldwide is consolidated. 970 million euros. The firm expects to shut the operation within the third quarter of the yr.