Nissan Spain Workers Reject Productivity Proposal

MADRID – Nissan Spain’s works council rejects a productivity increase proposal that could have boosted production here of a planned 2014 replacement for the Navara pickup by 24,500 units.

Current plans for the new model call for 60,000 units to be built annually.

For the moment, that additional volume, expected to go to Middle East markets, is assigned to another Nissan plant outside of Spain.

The proposal to increase output at the Zona Franca plant near Barcelona included planned new investment of €14 million ($18 million), but that now is off the table as a result of the works council’s rejection.

Nissan Spain began negotiations with its unions on a new competitiveness deal before the summer holiday period, agreeing to 2-shift operation at the plant and conversion of 300 temporary jobs into permanent positions.

Works council sources say the benefits of the additional proposed volume is not enough to offset the auto maker’s cost-cutting demands that go along with it, including a reduction annual wages to €18,000 ($23,000) for new workers. That would equate to a nearly 40% reduction from current gross salaries, labor representatives say, though company sources put the size of the cut at 25%.

Moreover, the auto maker demanded more work flexibility, including maintaining regular production during August. The Zona Franca plant typically closes in August, creating a “working days bank” of paid days off in the period and then using those owed days to operate at regular pay levels during the holidays.

“It is very difficult to understand (why) the Zona Franca workers would reject a competitiveness proposal that is already applied in other Spanish auto plants,” says Frank Torres, Nissan Spain deputy general manager-industrial operations.

“If we want to continue growing, opting to bigger volumes and new models, it is essential to improve the labor flexibility and the cost competitiveness in order to meet the market needs.

“And in order to achieve (that), we need a permanent dialogue between management and unions.”