The mayor stated that he has already requested clarifications from the company and asked for the intervention of the Minister of Economy, requests that are “awaiting a response.”
The Tupperware factory in Portugal, operating since 1980 in Montalvo, Constância, is 100% dependent on the American parent company, with the announcement of the bankruptcy petition potentially having consequences for the Portuguese unit, which currently employs about 200 permanent workers.
“We know very little; the information we have is what has been reported in the media. On Tuesday morning, when we learned about this situation, we sought clarification from the Montalvo unit and the response we received was that our request had been forwarded to the company’s communication department. Therefore, I suppose it has gone to the United States, and we await a response from there,” said Sérgio Oliveira (PS).
The mayor also mentioned having requested support from the Ministry of Economy to clarify a situation that could affect 200 people in a factory where “entire families” work.
“Today [Wednesday] morning we requested the help of the Minister of Economy. This is a multinational company, and it is crucial to have the intervention of this ministry to help us understand,” he declared, reaffirming social concern.
“In some cases, they are entire families; these are jobs and the uncertainty that people are facing. There is nothing worse in life than uncertainty. And this situation, without being clarified, creates all this uncertainty for people,” he emphasized.
AUDIO | SÉRGIO OLIVEIRA, MAYOR OF CONSTÂNCIA:
When asked if the factory is maintaining production, the mayor said that the information he has, “not being official,” is that “some machines are stopped due to having a high number of stocks in the warehouses,” lamenting the company’s silence.
When questioned by Lusa, Dário Lima, from the Workers’ Union, said that “if the factory closure occurs, it will be a social disaster for about 200 workers and their respective families.”
The representative of the Union of Workers in the Manufacturing Industries, Energy, and Environmental Activities of Central South and Autonomous Regions (SITE CSRA) noted that the union structure “will request more information from the administration to understand what Tupperware intends to do” with the workers and the factory in Portugal.
Lusa also questioned the company but has not yet received a response to the request for clarification.
Meanwhile, the CDU of Constância has already issued a statement expressing “solidarity” with the company’s workers, noting that “throughout its 42 years of existence, having virtually never paid taxes in our municipality, Tupperware has played, and continues to play, a vital role in the local social and economic fabric through the thousands of workers it has employed over these more than four decades.”
The CDU calls for “all workers to inform themselves through their respective unions about their rights, so that, at any time, they are aware of what is legitimately owed to them,” having stated that “bankruptcy will be a catastrophe for many families,” appealing to the municipality “to utilize all possible instruments to support the unemployed.”
“The CDU also urges the municipality for the urgent need to create better conditions in the Montalvo Industrial Zone, particularly its expansion, so that the companies based there and others that may establish themselves can absorb some of these workers,” it concluded.
Mayor of Constância concerned about the future of Tupperware workers after bankruptcy announcement. Credits: DR
The American multinational Tupperware has initiated the bankruptcy declaration process, dragged down by falling sales, and will seek court approval to continue operating and facilitate a sales process to protect the brand.
Tupperware Brands, known worldwide for its plastic containers for food storage, voluntarily initiated Chapter 11 proceedings in the Delaware Bankruptcy Court, causing its stock to drop by more than 50% on the New York Stock Exchange, and subsequently leading to a suspension.
The company had already postponed its annual accounts for 2023 in March of this year and, in June, announced plans to close its only factory in the U.S. and lay off nearly 150 employees.
According to the media, Tupperware will seek court approval to facilitate a sales process for the company and continue to operate during the bankruptcy process.
A decade after starting its activities in the United States, Tupperware expanded into Europe, and by the mid-1960s, it was present in six European countries, later making the leap into Latin American and Asian markets.
C/LUSA