The workers of the center of Martorelles that Amazon wants to close and relocate held an assembly this Saturday to warm up their engines for the strike that will begin next Wednesday. As explained by the president of the center’s business committee, Esther Rodríguez, the proposals made so far by the management have been “ridiculous”. “We hope that they will focus and see that we are all united and begin to negotiate in earnest”, he declared after the meeting of workers held in a pavilion in Martorelles. “It’s a closure, not a transfer”, he warned before warning that they will seek to remove “everything possible” from the multinational. In this sense, they recognize that their “hope” is the shutdown that begins next week.
As Rodríguez has acknowledged, the closure of the center is “irreversible”, but the workforce and unions hope to get as much as they can out of it. “The dismissal is free, but not free,” he warned. According to the UGT union leader, the workforce is “enthusiastic” and has prepared an agenda of mobilizations at the Martorelles facilities. However, he has promised that the strike, which starts on February 1, will be “indefinite until the end of the negotiations”.
The workers of this logistics center, which employs 745 people, registered a strike in January which, initially, will stop the company until February 17. The decision comes in full negotiations with the American giant, which announced two weeks ago that it would close the facilities to move its activity to Zaragoza. The fact that the strike is registered for seventeen days does not imply that the entire period ends, nor that it can be extended longer.
Although the e-commerce multinational promised it would guarantee the 745 jobs with redeployments, the move has been heavily criticized by unions, which they see as a “covert ERO” and an irreversible shutdown. Apart from the one in Martorelles, Amazon has centers in other parts of Catalonia such as El Prat de Llobregat, Castellbisbal and, from April, in El Far d’Empordà.
The possible strike is a measure of pressure in a negotiation process for the closure that began a week ago and is due to last a month. The talks count on the mediation of the City Council of the Valais city and the Department of Business and Work, although so far they have not borne fruit. About 200 workers participated in the assembly, which lasted two hours.