Thousands of workers from Coca-Cola bottling factories in Spain marched Sunday in Madrid and the eastern city of Alicante, urging a product boycott to protest plant closures.
The Altanta-based beverage giant plans to close four of its bottling factories in Spain that is expected to lead to 750 layoffs and 500 worker relocations.Post Wires500 others being offered relocation to other plants.
In red caps and vests bearing the logo of the giant US drinks company, crowds marched in Madrid and the eastern city of Alicante, where two of the threatened plants are located.
The company said last month that the closures were needed to improve efficiency. Workers say the layoffs are unjustified since the company is making a profit.
Workers at the plant in the southern Madrid suburb of Fuenlabrada, one of the capital’s poorest districts, have been on strike since Friday in protest.
About 2,000 protesters marched to central Madrid from Fuenlabrada in Sunday’s five-hour protest.
They waved signs reading: “Boycott, they are destroying jobs” and “No to the layoffs”.
“The plants are profitable but they are throwing us into the street,” said Francisco, 51, who fills bottles at the Fuenlabrada plant where he has worked for 17 years. He asked not to be identified by his surname.
“It is a modern plant but they are shutting it just so they can make more profits,” he added. “The ‘happiness’ of Coca-Cola is a sham.”