After his repeated orders, it seems that this time Segismundo García, due to the ceramic factories of Sargadelos, is no longer present at the lighthouse, or at least arrived very much on the wrist with the authorities. After opening a new store of the brand in Barcelona a few days ago, the Lucense entrepreneur has just announced to the Juzgado de lo Mercantil No. 2 in La Coruña that he is reducing his position as CEO and director of the factories, which he has personally managed since 2014, when he took on the responsibility of saving this symbol of Galician culture from a competitive situation.
Moreover, García announced to the manufacturer, accustomed to surprises, the opening of the Regulación Temporal de Empleo (ERTE) “with the power of the mayor from the 27th” until the 15th of December. The reason for his sudden decision comes from an inspection visit to the business, where the owner keeps a strong pulse on safety conditions. In any case, these measures affect the oldest factory in Cervo (Lugo), but it is located on the margins of the O Castro factory in Sada (La Coruña).
In a message he sent to the judge via social media, García stated that this change in text was due to the “altanería”, “engreimiento” and “dulería” of the labor inspection, which “obliges” him to “cease the executive tasks he was performing” until the end of this month. The motive that oppresses the owner of the vast majority of shares is not economic: “a company without much success, with an expanding and recurring treasury, prestige in the market and in the midst of a period of expansion.”
The situation is not new. Last April, Garcia approached the Labor Inspectorate with an open file after several workers were discovered to be infected with silicosis in Cervo. He then also sent the workers home, but this was not refused, and instead ERTE unilaterally decreed a week off.
These young men, three inspectors (described by the duo as “astronauts”, dressed to confront “highly harmful” materials) went to check that the best safety improvements imposed on the factory, protected as Bien de Interés Culture (BIC) by the Xunta de Galicia, had been implemented. Now Sigismundo Garcia felt attacked and took drastic measures.
On the same day of the inspectors’ visit, Garcia wrote a statement in which I proposed that my property be confiscated. “Xunta was committed to facilitating the means and allowing manufacturing processes to be improved as quickly as possible,” he explained, but the “essential” works had not yet begun. However, on schedule, the Autonomous Administration ordered “experts to certify that there are no highly contagious or dangerous materials.” In his writings, with his well-known sarcasm, the businessman calls for “the allocation of these facilities, after appropriate expropriation, to museum activities or ‘ceramic interpretation’, which will not generate unhealthy particles.”
Xunta’s president, Alfonso Rueda, this morning asked for “seriousness” and “compliance with the law” after breaking the ERTE news to 86 workers at the Servo plant. In addition, the Gallego party leader said that the Gallego government would try to mediate the conflict, just as he did in the spring in Garcia’s previous call. “We will try to play the role that leads us to the solution, but we are also aware of our capabilities as a labor authority and we will demand compliance with the law,” Rueda commented to reporters after being asked about the new labor struggle of this Gallego icon in private hands.
This came in the first hour, when the production workers came to their place and found themselves with the doors closed. On the tenth day, Sigismundo published in the media the letters sent to Juzgado de lo Mercantil and the factory employees. The employees signed a report confirming their arrival to their headquarters and their stay at the factory gates. Only the workshop and maintenance personnel could enter, and the dueno also left earlier than usual.
In his “reductionist” letter, Sigismundo García criticizes the “abundant and sometimes contradictory legislation and regulations of all kinds” that hinder the work of companies, and accuses the “high standard, strictness and lack of inspection.”
As for production employees, a list that has recently expanded, they explain that the closure was “mandatory” following “procedures and requirements formulated by the Labor Inspectorate and Social Security regarding the potential risks associated with siliceous octopuses in certain work areas, which, if present, could be harmful to the health of workers.”
“Such a situation forces us to interrupt production activity (hopefully temporarily) in the affected areas to fully ensure the safety and health of the plant,” he continues in the statement he signs. “It constitutes a reason for greater force within the conditions stipulated in the labor regulations,” añade.
The employment file, submitted in the Xunta registry, which comes in the first hour, affects 78 women and men. According to Europa Press, the signing of these documents by one of the workers sparked moments of tension among the factory, which had already lacked official representation for years. CIG (Confederación Intersindical Galega) Spokesperson