Danone announced this Friday to the unions its intention to close the production factory in Parets del Vallès (Vallès Occidental), where 157 people work directly. The French multinational has summoned worker representatives to a meeting on January 17 to start a dialogue table and address the process of cessation of activity, which is expected to be finalized in a few months. The Parets plant manufactures Activia, Alpro yogurts and other fruit products.
Company sources attribute the decision to a production optimization process with the objective of "strengthening the competitiveness of the brands and gaining industrial efficiency." They also point to a drop in the sales volume of dairy products, which would make the continuity of the Catalan plant unfeasible, they point out. "It doesn't pay off," they say. At the inauguration of Danone's new research center in Paris last year, company executives lamented the rise of private label due to rising food prices, a process that was leading them to have difficulty maintaining their share. of market. The Parets factory had once produced around 110,000 tons of yogurt and other dairy products and is currently at around 60,000.
Danone has explained that they will work with the unions to try to minimize the impact on the plant's jobs and offer "the best possible solutions" to workers. "Danone Spain will try to reach an agreement that satisfies the interests of all parties and will make the greatest possible effort to mitigate the consequences of this announcement," they stressed. Specifically, they are committed to promoting the reindustrialization of the area and the possible sale to a third party has not been ruled out.
For its part, CC.OO. has rejected the announcement to close the plant and has urged the company to reverse its intentions. Waiting to sit down to negotiate next week, they have demanded an industrial plan that guarantees the continuity of activity and jobs. "Our priority is to maintain jobs and ensure that production volumes remain in Spain," commented Pedro Gutiérrez, general secretary of the CC.OO Intercenter Union Section. at Danone. Parets' staff has received the news with great concern.
In recent years Danone has applied a process of industrial concentration that has led to the closure of two plants in Spain. In 2013 it closed a center in Seville and last year, another in Asturias. The latter ended up being acquired by a French multinational that will begin cheese production at the end of 2024 and where it is expected to relocate workers affected by the dismissal of Danone in that community.
Currently, the French company has three active dairy plants in Spain, where it employs about 2,000 people. In addition to Parets del Vallès, it has a large production center in Tres Cantos (Madrid) and another in Aldaia (Valencia). In addition, it maintains three water factories in Sant Hilari Sacalm (Selva), Lanjarón (Granada) and Sigüenza (Guadalajara).
Last October, Danone advanced an improvement in its results forecasts for the entire year 2023, after closing the first nine months of the year with net income of 21,118 million euros, which represents an increase of 2% compared to the same period of 2022.
