Spanish olive oil producer Deoleo has initiated redundancy negotiations across three of its facilities that could affect around 100 employees.
A spokesperson for the company confirmed today (14 December) Deoleo has published a Record of Employment Regulation (ERE) filing, which he said will affect around 100 workers at the company’s main production facilities and it headquarters in Rivas Vaciamadrid in Madrid.
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The two production facilities are located in Alcolea in western Spain and Andujar in the south of the country.
The spokesperson said the company is in negotiations with its employees and employee representatives. He added: “We do not know how this process will be resolved until the end of the negotiations.”
Deoleo and unions reached an agreement to implement an ERE late last year, affecting around 41 employees in Spain through voluntary redundancies and early retirements.
Kepler Capital Markets analyst Joaquin Garcia-Romanillos said it was “widely expected” a restructuring process would come after its agreement with Hojiblanca in October. The local rival agreed a deal to acquire a near 10% stake in Deoleo in return for transferring ownership of its brand and Málaga bottling plant.
“Trade unions state that this new filing could be a result of the agreements signed with Hojiblanca and Sovena for the optimisation of oil production,” Garcia-Romanillos said. “It will affect 12% of the company’s workforce, but we do not know yet whether those are permanent or temporary workforce reductions (as in some cases last year).
“We expect to hear additional news on this, particularly the cost of the headcount reduction and whether it has already been provisioned for.”
