The workers at Sabic are planning a total shutdown of the industrial complex in La Aljorra if the company does not guarantee zero redundancies after the definitive closure of one of its polycarbonate production plants, known as Lexan 2, according to the president of the works council, Pascual Sánchez, after the meeting between the workers’ representatives and the City Council.
In a meeting in which the spokespersons of the municipal groups that make up the City Council (PP, MC, PSOE, Vox and Sí Cartagena) expressed their support for the Sabic workers, they were unanimous in demanding that there be no redundancies and that «the workers affected be relocated, with paid leave and a good social plan for the workers affected by the closure of the plant», as Mayor Noelia Arroyo stated. To demonstrate this commitment, a joint declaration in support of the workers will be issued at the next City Council meeting on Thursday.
The workers’ representative said that the closure could mean up to 137 redundancies, no more, but explained that it could also affect some 5,000 workers in ancillary companies that bill the company. He also reported that mobilisations would begin at the La Aljorra plant on 30 October.
The spokesman for MC, Jesús Giménez, reiterated his rejection of the closure and support for all the demands of the committee. Manuel Torres, spokesman for the PSOE, defended the idea of zero redundancies and a social plan so that all the workers affected would be «as well off as possible».
For his part, Diego Salinas of VOX stressed that they would even fight to keep the factory open. Finally, Ana Belén Castejón, of Sí Cartagena, said that «this united front is to tell Sabic loud and clear that the closure cannot mean leaving so many families on the street».