Ferroglobe, the only company that manufactures silicon in Spain, has registered a Temporary Employment Regulation File (ERTE) that will affect the 113 workers at the Sabón factory, in the Coruña municipality of Arteixo. The planned application period runs from August 1, 2026, to December 31, 2027, as the company has communicated to the works council.
Faced with this measure, the council (CIG and UGT) has expressed its "outright rejection" of the ERTE conditions presented by management on July 14, and is confident that changes will be introduced to the document, pending a meeting convened for this Friday where the company's proposals will be analyzed in detail.
In a public statement, the union representation emphasizes that the Ferroglobe plant in Sabón "is a historical pillar in the industrial fabric of A Coruña and the only facility in the entire national territory dedicated to the production of silicon metal." It recalls that it has a permanent staff of more than 113 people directly linked to production and around 200 indirect jobs "whose future now depends on urgent strategic decisions, mainly by the authorities."
The workers maintain that this adjustment "is the direct consequence of institutional passivity, especially at the European level, which is condemning them to a scenario of total uncertainty." They assure that "the administrations are allowing the destruction of the sector," despite the "strategic value" of silicon metal, "indispensable for the energy transition, the technological industry, and the automotive sector."
The council blames "Europe's slowness in implementing real tariff and protection measures against the invasion of silicon produced in China at low cost." It adds that "this 'dumping,' carried out under labor and environmental regulations that would be illegal in the European Union, is sinking prices and flooding the market with the approval of institutions that, paradoxically, boast of defending European industrial sovereignty."
The staff insists that "it will not accept political inaction being used as an excuse to precarious their working conditions or threaten the continuity of the plant". They demand a concrete viability plan from Ferroglobe and urge the regional and central governments to act in Brussels to "urgently activate trade defense mechanisms". They also reproach the company for not having carried out more effective management to close prices or energy agreements (PPAs).
"We cannot always be the ones who pay the bill. We demand that the company's management seek real alternatives and that Europe wake up once and for all and protect its industry before it is too late," warn the staff representatives.
Finally, the committee announces that the staff is organizing a calendar of mobilizations in defense of their jobs and the continuity of activity at the Sabón plant.