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-owned multinational aluminium company Alcoa has announced the closure of its plant in San Cibrao (Lugo), affecting up to 534 employees. The company explained that the high energy costs and the low price of aluminium, along with global overcapacity, have caused significant losses that are expected to continue, making the closure inevitable. To discuss the sustainability of the plant, Alcoa and worker representatives have already started an informal period of consultations lasting approximately three weeks. The formal period of negotiation for the announced collective dismissal is about to begin after it. The president of the workers' council of the Alcoa plant in Lugo has demanded partial nationalisation of the company by the Spanish government.
This announcement comes after the company announced in 2018the closure of two other plants in Spain (in Áviles and Coruña), although they were finally acquired by the Parter group and later resold to the Riesgo group.
Currently, the company employs around 2,000 workers in Spain.
Update 28/10/2021: The Supreme Court has declared that the collective redundancy that Alcoa plans to implement at the San Cibrao plant (Lugo) is invalid. The unions welcome the decision. However, they assure the only solution guaranteeing the maintenance of the activity is that the National Government acquire the factory through the SEPI (state entity of industrial stakes) to sell it to a third party.
Eurofound (2020), Alcoa, Closure in Spain, factsheet number 100763, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/100763.