FORMICA EZ ITXI / NOT TO FORMICA SHUTDOWN
Since the announcement made last June 28 by
Formica Europe Board of directors of closing down their production factory in
Galdakao and laiding off 190 workers, we have started an equally irrevocable
chain of reactions: 4 days of strike with public gatherings before the public
governments, meetings have been held with Town Hall and Basque Government, public
demonstrations, car convoys, saucepan banging demonstrations, etc.
On top of this we have kept parallel protests
like keeping information posts in the town, daily gatherings at the factory’s
gate from 12 to 15 hours and some more meetings have been held.
We would also like to inform the people of
Galdakao that up to this date, we have only been summoned up to 3 meetings with
the factory managing team and the external advisors contracted by the company.
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On
those meetings no justification documents required by the works committee have
been supplied, and the company managing directors have only repeated the unilateral
decision of closing down the factory as initially communicated.
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Since
the beginning of this drama, they have offered the shutdown of the factory as
the only and unique way, rejecting any other solutions.
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We
can state that they try to sow panic within our staff, not giving any
confirmation about the possible transferral of workers to other factories for
Formica in Europe
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This
works committee has informed about current situation since the first minute to
all local & basque governments requesting the help of those public
institutions, but we would like to clarify that any solution should be voted by
the staff of Formica workers in Galdakao, and that the possible contribution of
those mediators will not be valid without our express approval.
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We
are convinced on the profitability of this plant within the Group (no one has
refuted this point up to this date) and we believe that the financial policy of
the company by taking away from us customers first, and production orders
second, is to impose a Collective Dismissal Procedure on our workers of
Galdakao.
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We
will keep ourselves hard on our goal of maintaining the factory working until
final solution of this conflict is achieved.
Last but not least, we would like to thank the
people of Galdakao for their support and wholehearted solidarity and we hope we
may count on you also for any future actions.
Works Committee of
Formica S.A.
in Galdakao
ELA-LAB-CCOO