Employees at a Nestlé plant in Spain have agreed to carry out work stoppages this week, continuing their protest against planned layoffs at the site.
Workers at the La Penilla factory in Cantabria in northern Spain, were initially due to down their tools for an indefinite period, according to a statement from the local branch of the CCOO union.
However, the works council for the site, which is made up of a mixture of unions, has agreed to carry out intermittent stoppages on Wednesday and Thursday (3 and 4 June), as opposed to striking for an indefinite period.
The stoppages coincide with the final two days of talks with Nestlé on its "workforce reduction plan", a statement from the CCOO said.
“After assessing the current situation and with the aim of avoiding further economic losses for the factory workers, a change in mobilisation strategy has been decided," the union body said in its statement.
Employees began carrying out a series of two-hour strikes last month in protest at the Swiss multinational's plans to lay off staff at the facility, which makes products including confectionery and wafers.
According to a statement from the CCOO on 28 May, Nestlé has reduced the number of planned layoffs from 49 to 43 people.
Nestlé began rolling out job cuts in Europe in April as part of its plan to axe 16,000 positions worldwide, which was announced by CEO Philipp Navratil in October.
According to a statement from the company in April, its "workforce adjustment process" involved making up to 301 positions redundant in Spain.
Nestlé confirmed it was aware of the stoppages taking place this week at the plant in La Penilla.
Aside from the CCOO, the group told Just Food the works council is also made up of the CGT, USO, and UGT unions.
If an agreement is not reached, the CCOO said the "intermittent strikes" would continue "indefinitely" as of Monday (8 June).
Nestlé told Just Food it was going through the consultation period with legal representatives of the affected staff members "with a willingness to engage in dialogue, in good faith and with respect, in order to reach an agreement".
It added: "Nestlé respects the position of employee representatives and the right to protest as part of the legitimate exercise of social dialogue and is working to ensure the quality of service and supply to customers and suppliers."
The consultation period began on 6 May and will end this Friday (5 June).
