Almost 90 percent of the workers that Cerealto Siro Foods has in its Toro (Zamora) and Venta de Baños (Palencia) centers have supported the company’s investment plan; the central government assures that it was “future or closure”.
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Almost 90 percent of the workers that Cerealto Siro Foods has in its centers in Toro (Zamora) and Venta de Baños (Palencia) have today supported the company’s investment plan and that it was vital to continue with the industrial activity in all the plants of the Community. The plan includes 100 million reinforced investment, recovery of purchasing power in the future and incentivized dismissals.
In the Palencia capital they were called to vote the workers from the two centers in Venta de Baños –Siro El Espinar and Siro Venta de Baños–. The result, according to sources from the Company Committee to Europa Press, has been 208 votes cast, 177 in favor, 27 against and four blank.
Hours before, In Toro, the workers also ratified the pre-agreement reached at dawn on Friday in Madrid with 209 votes in favor, 13 against and with only five blank votes. In Aguilar de Campóo (Palencia), where the company has its third production center, the workers have not voted since they had approved the previous plan presented by the company by a large majority.
Acceptance of the viability plan negotiated between the new investor and the Government of Spain was an essential requirement so that industrial activity can continue in the centers of the Community.
The assemblies of the workers of Grupo Siro in Toro (Zamora) and Venta de Baños (Palencia) have had the presence of the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism of the Government, Reyes Marotowho had explained to those affected that there was no “alternative” to this viability plan. “Either we talk about the future, or we talk about closure”he expressed.
The president of the Company Committee in Aguilar, Alfredo Alonso, told Europa Press that it is a day of “tranquility” and news of the “future” for the 1,700 families of the group. In this sense, he wanted to thank “all the templates” of Toro, Aguilar and Venta de Baños for their “high-mindedness” and “common sense”. “We have put the work of the people above all else and that makes me feel proud as a worker of the group and a trade unionist”he added, to conclude that, “finally”, they leave behind “this nightmare” and see the “light at the end of the tunnel after so much uncertainty”.
“The company is bankrupt”
The Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Kings Marotosentenced today in Palencia, minutes before participating in the assembly of workers of Cerealto Siro Foods in Castilla y León of the C2VB plant, the special employment center of Venta de Baños, which “the company is bankrupt, therefore there is no plan b”. “Either we manage to make this company viable and that the workers are part of this solution, or tomorrow these workers will be in Fogasa collecting unemployment”.
Maroto, who recognized that the decision of the workers was not easy, since they are risking their future, and that of the industry of the province and the Community, stated that wants a good social plan for workers. In fact, the agreement, which will be announced on Monday, includes the recovery of purchasing power, once the company is afloat, as well as low incentives.
Similarly, he insisted that there is a future for the plants, with an investment plan that has been reinforced, and that reaches 130 million, with 80 to pay suppliers and 50 to give liquidity to the company and be able to pay wages.
The plan will be reinforced with an industrial table in which administrations, the new owner and the company committees will “be able to make a guardianship that everything is developed according to what is voted today”, sentenced. “We have had many crises, and this cannot be removed with a band-aid,” he concluded, to emphasize that the industrial plan must be accompanied by a social plan that recognizes the talent of all workers.
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