Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Unofficial industrial actionCoronavirusManufacturingLatest NewsChange management

Nissan plant in Barcelona to close as Sunderland stays safe

by Rob Moss 29 May 2020
by Rob Moss 29 May 2020 Protests erupt outside a plant which Nissan announced will close in Spain. Photo: Andreu Dalmau/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Protests erupt outside a plant which Nissan announced will close in Spain. Photo: Andreu Dalmau/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Hundreds of Spanish Nissan workers have burnt tyres outside a factory that the Japanese car maker has announced is to close, while the UK’s Sunderland plant will stay open.

Global restructuring in reaction to the coronavirus crisis has led Nissan to reduce global production capacity by 20% to 5.4 million vehicles per year. A facility in Indonesia will also cease manufacturing.

Nissan chief executive Makoto Uchida said the company would continue to run its Sunderland factory, which employs 7,000 people. Production will recommence next month after being suspended because of Covid-19.

He said: “Our transformation plan aims to ensure steady growth instead of excessive sales expansion. We will now concentrate on our core competencies and enhancing the quality of our business, while maintaining financial discipline and focusing on net revenue per unit to achieve profitability. This coincides with the restoration of a culture defined by ‘Nissan-ness’ for a new era.”

Uchida described the decision to close the 3,000-employee Barcelona plant as “very difficult”. More than 20,000 jobs are thought to be indirectly affected.

Angry workers blocked roads and burned tyres outside the plant on the Zona Franca industrial estate. “They’ve left us to die,” said Juan Carlos Vicente, the works council president, after a meeting with the company.

The Spanish government said it “laments” Nissan’s decision, and has proposed a working group to find alternatives

Nissan’s survival plan, includes reducing the number of models it manufactures worldwide from 69 to 55 and it follows a new strategy announced with its partners Renault and Mitsubishi to work more closely to share production, designs, and technologies.

Steve Bush, Unite’s national officer for automotive, said the union continues to push for sector-level assistance from government in these unprecedented times and said that the Spanish closure was a “regrettable reminder” of the challenges faced by the car industry.

He added: “We are seeking clear assurances from Nissan that the cost-cutting measures spoken about will not impact on our members’ jobs, terms and conditions or other benefits at Europe’s most efficient plant, Sunderland.

“We have made it clear to Nissan that any attempt to do this will be fought by the union and a loyal, world-class workforce. There needs to be a full consultation with Unite to ensure that any rationalisation or restructuring of the business is done in a way that protects jobs and the financial security of our members as well as the long-term future of the plant.”

Nissan’s alliance partner Renault has today announced 15,000 job cuts worldwide including 4,600 in France and, earlier this week, UK sports carmaker McLaren revealed plans to cut nearly a third of its workforce, around 1,200 people, mainly in the UK.

Employee relations opportunities on Personnel Today

Browse more Employee Relations jobs

Rob Moss
Rob Moss

Rob Moss is a business journalist with more than 25 years' experience. He has been editor of Personnel Today since 2010. He joined the publication in 2006 as online editor of the award-winning website. He specialises in labour market economics, gender diversity and family-friendly working. He has hosted hundreds of webinar and podcasts, most recently on the challenges created by the coronavirus pandemic. Before writing about HR and employment he ran news and feature desks on publications serving the global optical and eyewear market, the UK electrical industry, and electrical markets in Asia and the Middle East.

previous post
Reboot your company culture for the socially distanced workplace
next post
From ‘forgotten’ to ‘key’ workers: protecting the precariously employed

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

You may also like

One in five employers planning ‘no jab no...

19 May 2022

BNP Paribas banker accused of ’emotional terrorism’ wins...

19 May 2022

How should HR handle the highest inflation in...

18 May 2022

How to respond to an HMRC furlough enquiry

18 May 2022

AI adoption: Skills shortages means UK lagging behind...

18 May 2022

Nurses leaving due to pressure and workplace culture

18 May 2022

Ethnic diversity: report highlights disparities in school leadership

18 May 2022

Accreditation scheme will ‘encourage LGBT+ people to be...

17 May 2022

Bald move: Tribunal was right in sex-related harassment...

17 May 2022

Number of working people with disability up 1.3...

17 May 2022
  • What it really means to be mentally fit PROMOTED | What is mental fitness...Read more
  • How music can help to ease anxiety at work PROMOTED | A lot has happened since March 2020, hasn’t it?...Read more
  • Why now is the time to plug the unhealthy gap PROMOTED | We’ve all heard the term ‘health is wealth’...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+