Spain: Procavi sackings and trade union repression in the pandemic – support the solidarity campaign!

After this article was written, the Procavi has stepped up its anti-trade union harassment. Comrade Nadia Garcia, the SAT shop steward at Procavi, has received a formal complaint from management which threatens her with disciplinary action for the distribution of leaflets as the company alleges this could potentially “spread the coronavirus”!

Since the declaration of a state of alarm over COVID-19, the bosses of companies that remain in operation have offered their workers tokens of their appreciation, motivational videos and even started to hail them as ‘heroes’. But what goes on in the companies where these same ‘heroes’ decry the lack of safety measures?

In Procavi’s Adecco contract, their praise promptly turns into dismissals. Procavi produces 50 percent of processed turkey meat in the country, forms part of Grupo Fuertes (El Pozo) and is a supplier to Mercadona, Spain’s leading supermarket chain. Since the start of the state of emergency, it has been subject to condemnation for failing to implement social distancing measures for its workers. These measures are absent in the production line, in changing rooms and during meal breaks. The company does not adopt enough measures to ensure that their 2000 workers maintain the minimum required social distancing, and their workers continue to work side by side.

Procavi has been subject to condemnation for failing to implement social distancing measures for its workers / Image: fair use

In addition to the safety measures, the workplace branch of SAT (Andalusian Workers Union) has demanded a 30 percent bonus on the base salary to recompense them for their exposure to extraordinary risk. Nevertheless, company management has decided to reward the worker’s ‘heroism’ with layoffs, thus retaliating against the three workers who have been actively making these demands.

This issue becomes all the more serious given that two of the fired workers are candidates for the forthcoming union elections of August this year.

These dismissals are a blatant example of repression against a union that defends the rights of the workers. We demand that the company rectify their mistake and reinstate the workers who have suffered reprisals.

We cannot allow these attacks to be carried out against our most fundamental union rights as workers. The attacks that we, the SAT, have been subjected to today in this company are the same attacks that union activists have been experiencing in other workplace unions. We must act in solidarity to respond to all the attacks against the trade union movement. Therefore, we appeal to the working class to take part in a campaign spearheaded by this workplace branch to send emails to the company management in order to make our opposition clear .

Below is a model resolution which may be used as a template:

To:

satprocavi@gmail.com;

rosa.MMorales@adecco.com;

federico.Borrego@adecco.com;

pilar.peralta@procavi.es;

procavi@eurofirms.es;

recursoshumanos@marchenaoutsourcing.es;

Subject: Reinstatement of Procavi Workers

Message Text:

[Nombre y Apellidos], como [representante/miembro] de [órgano/comité/sindicato/agrupación/...] les hago llegar mi conocimiento y rechazo a las medidas represivas que la empresa Procavi, del Grupo Fuertes, a través de las contratas presentes en su planta de producción situada en Marchena (Sevilla), ha llevado a cabo contra representantes del Sindicato Andaluz de Trabajadores/as.

Es realmente indignante comprobar que en mitad de la crisis sanitaria, que está conllevando un sacrificio enorme por parte de los trabajadores y un mayor riesgo para ellos mismos, familiares y entorno cercano, vuestra compañía responda con represalias con motivos carentes de toda legitimidad moral y legal. No se pueden mantener en pie los argumentos de “bajada de producción” en un sector como el de la alimentación. Tampoco es aceptable que a una compañera se la despida bajo el argumento de haberse retirado la mascarilla de seguridad.

A todas luces, esta actitud representa una seria ofensa a los derechos fundamentales de los trabajadores, atentando contra la libertad sindical, que se pretende frenar usando métodos de amedrentamiento. Esto tiene mayor trascendencia a pocos meses de la celebración de elecciones sindicales en algunas contratas, donde el SAT, como tendréis conocimiento ya, va a presentar candidaturas. Precisamente 2 de los compañeros represaliados son miembros de la candidatura y todos ellos, incluyendo a la compañera despedida disciplinariamente, delegados sindicales y miembros activos del sindicato.

Sirva esta comunicación para constatar nuestra oposición a las medidas adoptadas y para anunciar que nos implicaremos a todos los niveles legítimos a nuestro alcance para que la situación sea justamente reparada.