Mexican baker Grupo Bimbo is planning to make more than 350 sales staff in Spain redundant, according to union officials.
The Confederación Sindical de Comisiones Obreras union called the move an “unjust decision.”
Grupo Bimbo did not respond to a request for comment made outside of office hours.
According to a statement from the CCOO published last week, Bimbo “intends to initiate another layoff process under the excuse of experiencing continued losses. Evidence and past experience demonstrate that behind this move is Bimbo’s insatiable attitude and its desire to increase profits at the expense of reducing the company’s payroll”.
The union said Bimbo had closed three factories in Spain in eight years. “Employees cannot accept the capricious decisions of the company’s management,” it added.
“Just when it seemed that the efforts to punish the workforce were coming to an end, the company decided to initiate another layoff process.”
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By GlobalDataReporting its first-quarter results on 29 April, Grupo Bimbo said net sales rose 10.8% to 103.73bn pesos ($5.2bn) but net income dropped 26.6% to 1.77bn pesos.
Adjusted EBITDA climbed 8% to 12.82bn pesos, while operating income was down 1.8% at 6.75bn pesos.
Bimbo’s Europe, the Middle East and Africa business unit, into which its Spain results are integrated, saw its sales rise 22.3% to 12.05bn pesos.
In North America, the group made reference to a “tough consumer environment”, a region where it operates through Bimbo Bakeries USA.
Grupo Bimbo has expanded its footprint in Europe over the past 18 months, snapping up Karamolegos Bakery Romania in May, Slovenia bakery business Don Don in November and Spain-based gluten-free bakery company Amaritta in January last year.
