Dutch multinational AkzoNobel has scaled back planned layoffs at its El Prat de Llobregat plant. Following intense negotiations with worker representatives, the company reduced the number of affected employees from 120 to 101. The plant’s workforce has since ratified the revised agreement.
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The deal offers a partial victory for employees at the major paint and coatings facility, located in a key industrial town just outside Barcelona. AkzoNobel’s initial announcement of 120 redundancies, part of an Employment Regulation File (ERE), sent shockwaves through the local community. This community recently launched a major affordable cooperative housing project. Col·lectiu Ronda, a legal cooperative that advised the workers, stated the company and social representatives reached the agreement before staff approval.
Details of the Agreement
AkzoNobel will implement the redundancies in two phases. Eighty percent of the 101 job cuts are scheduled for this March, with the remaining 20% to follow in July.
Additionally, the negotiated package offers eight employees relocation to AkzoNobel’s other major plant in Barcelona’s Zona Franca industrial estate. However, this offer carries a significant drawback: workers accepting the transfer will lose their current labour conditions. This concession has tempered the relief over the reduced number of dismissals.
Accusations of ‘Covert Delocalisation’
Despite the agreement, the CO.BAS union, which supported the workforce, remains deeply critical of AkzoNobel’s motives. The union maintains its accusation that the layoffs form part of a “covert delocalisation” strategy, as Metrópoli Abierta first reported. They allege AkzoNobel intends to shift production from Catalonia to Poland, where labour costs are substantially lower.
“This is not merely a restructuring,” a CO.BAS spokesperson previously argued, framing the job cuts as a strategic move to favour operations in other European countries. This situation reflects broader tensions in the region’s industrial sector, which has recently experienced other labour disputes, including FGC train strikes timed to disrupt major events.
Company Cites Strategic Shift
For its part, AkzoNobel justifies the workforce adjustment as a necessary consequence of a major strategic investment. The company recently funnelled €11 million into the El Prat plant to transform it into a flagship centre for water-based paint production.
This pivot away from solvent-based pigments, with that production line distributed to other facilities, requires a significant “readjustment of the plantilla,” according to the company. AkzoNobel, known for brands like Dulux and Sikkens, operates four plants in Barcelona province-in El Prat de Llobregat, Barcelona, Vilafranca del Penedès, and Vallirana-and employs over 1,300 people across Spain. While the deal avoids the worst-case scenario, the underlying dispute over the firm’s long-term commitment to its Catalan workforce continues to simmer.
