The serious water crisis affecting Catalonia, despite the recent rains, is beginning to have some impact on employment, although at the moment very limited. The Generalitat has approved six temporary employment regulation files (ERTO) linked to the drought in 2024, as confirmed by the Department of Business and Work. Four of these files are included in the category of ERTE due to force majeure, the same assumption that the Freixenet cava giant has requested.
The Sant Sadurní d'Anoia company has raised a temporary file for up to 615 workers from May due to the drought. The drop in grape production in DO Cava due to the lack of water, of up to 40%, has led the leading group in the sector to undertake this measure. The request, in any case, must still be evaluated and approved by Empresa i Treball. The union CC.OO., the majority in the company, has already demanded the withdrawal of the file and negotiations to find alternative solutions that preserve employment. The workers' representatives fear that a precedent will be created and that other large firms, both in the cava sector and in other branches of activity, will follow similar measures, with the consequent impact on employment. Codorníu, another of the main cava groups, rules out, however, applying temporary file mechanisms. "No measures of this impact are foreseen in Raventós Codorníu", company sources pointed out.
The six ERTE due to drought that have been approved so far in Catalonia affect only 27 people, 24 due to reduced working hours and three due to contract suspension. The majority belong to the agri-food sector.
Therefore, it is a small impact, although it could increase if the Government finally approves the ERTE de Freixenet. Nothing to do with the situation experienced during the covid pandemic, when ERTEs became a common resource for the survival of many companies, especially in the transport and tourism sector.
Of all the fields of activity, agriculture is the one that suffers the most from the lack of water. Irrigation is restricted in a large part of Catalonia, which, together with the absence of sufficient rain, has reduced the harvests of cereals and olives, among other products, with the consequent increase in prices - olive oil has reached at historical prices, both at the supermarket and at the source.
