Spanish Supreme Court rules dismissed workers’ rights were violated at Coca-Cola

On April 15, 2015 the Madrid Supreme Court announced its final verdict on the closure of four Coca-Cola factories in Spain and confirmed the previous ruling of the National Court which declared the Coca-Cola Iberian Partners’ (CCIP) restructuring plan announced in January 2014 invalid. The  restructuring and the  closure  of  4  plants in  Alicante,  Fuenlabrada  (Madrid),  Palma  de  Mallorca  and Colloto (Asturias) affected  more  than  1190  workers  and  caused  the  forced  redundancy  of  821 employees.

According to the Court, CCIP violated the right to strike during the consultation period by supplying products from other functioning plants. The bottler didn’t present IUF affiliates FEAGRA-CCOO and FITAG-UGT in Spain a detailed plan of its decision to close down 4 of its 11 factories in 2014. Confirming that the company’s actions around the closures violated the dismissed workers’ rights, the Supreme Court ruled that there was now no need to evaluate other grounds of appeal. The final verdict nullified the closure of the factories and the company is now responsible for payment of back wages of all workers for the entire period.

 

Details of the ruling will become available in the upcoming weeks.

 

The IUF calls on TCCC and CCIP to start good-faith negotiations with IUF affiliates on how to implement the judgement.