The works council of the Celsa steel mill calls for an indefinite strike at the Castellbisbal headquarters starting next January 6 due to non-compliance with the agreement, according to union sources. The proposed call – approved unanimously by the committee members – comes just two weeks after the new owners will take control of the company with Rafael Villaseca at the helm as president.
The strike must be endorsed by the staff in several assemblies next week, although normally the workers always subscribe to the proposals of their committee, especially when the decision is unanimous. The votes come after employee representatives will file a complaint with the labor inspection because the company “has not presented us with the final calendars without any extraordinary reason.” That programming must be ready 30 days before the end of the year. In addition, employees complain that the workday has not been distributed correctly. Sources consulted said that the changes in programming are to adjust the manufacturing lines of each product to the needs of the market.
Company sources said that “the new management has respected the position of the workers” and have also recalled that one of the first decisions that President Villaseca made was to meet with the workers on the 1st. That same day was the one registered the complaint with the inspection.
Worker sources said that the company “does not want us to have a conciliation of family life for a large part of the workforce.” In addition to the indefinite strike, the committee will put different mobilizations to a vote of workers on January 2, 3, 4 and 5.
This week, the Official Gazette of the Commercial Registry (Borme) recorded that the creditor funds had already capitalized the 1.3 billion euros of debt in the companies that own Celsa. In addition, the shareholders merged the three that controlled the industrial conglomerate (Inversiones Pico Aneto, Inversiones Pico Espadas and Inversiones Pico Aneyet) into a single company. To do this, they carried out an accordion operation consisting of bringing the capital of the three companies to zero and subsequently capitalizing them. In this way, the Rubiralta family that owns them lost the shares. The Borme also registered the appointment of the former CEO of Gas Natural, Rafael Villaseca, as a director of that company that will control Barna Steel, which in turn controls all the companies in the group.
