Restructuring events
European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
The US multinational PepsiCo, manufacturer, marketer, and distributor of beverages and snacks, has launched job cuts of 530-550 employees in Spain (this is 21% of its total workforce). The company's management has explained to the unions that the impact on the workforce will affect all areas of the company, including sales (with 250-260 workers affected), the production plants (40 workers at the Burgos plant, 15 at the Vitoria plant and 10 at the Murcia plant) and the office area (120 jobs affected, with the Barcelona plant suffering the greatest staff cuts, followed by Madrid and Vitoria).
CC OO trade union details that the company has presented this workforce adjustment, leading to a collective dismissals procedure (ERE in Spanish) for "organisational and productive reasons", and seeks to reduce its portfolio by 30% to centralise functions, eliminate organisational layers and implement new technologies for the digitisation of processes.
The company and unions have set up a dialogue table this week to, according to a statement issued by PepsiCo, "guarantee a process with the will to reach an agreement". The unions have reiterated to the company's management that "they do not believe that the context proposed is susceptible to traumatic measures", so they have requested in writing all the necessary information in order to minimise the impact that this process may have. PepsiCo has clarified that it will not close any factory or office.
Last year the company announced the opening of a global digital hub in Barcelona which would employ 400 people by 2024 (Pepsico-2021-ES).
Updated, 22/12/2022
On 22 December, Pepsico and the unions agreed on the conditions for the Redundancy Proceedings (ERE) that the company will implement in Spain. It will affect a maximum of 545 workers (both in factories and offices). However, union representatives hope that the redundancies will not reach that figure, and are confident that the vast majority will be covered by voluntary departures and early retirements. The minimum age for early retirements has been set at 56, two years younger than initially proposed by Pepsico. For voluntary departures, severance payments are raised above the legal limits, with additional payments for length of service.
Eurofound (2022), PepsiCo, Internal restructuring in Spain, factsheet number 107831, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://dev.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/107831.
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