The Tubacex sentences uncover the fraudulent actions by the company’s management

Jul 13, 2021
The expert report produced by ELA, the only one proposed by the trade unions, has been a determining factor in the result of the sentences that declare the dismissals presented by the management to be null and void. The company now has five days to reinstate the 129 workers. In the case that the company were not to adopt the aforementioned steps, ELA will study continuing with the strike.

The sentences by TTI and Acería Alava of the TSJPV (Basque Country’s Supreme Court of Justice) that declare the dismissals of 129 workers at Tubacex null and void, show that the company acted fraudulently, as is included in the body of the two sentences:

The accounting data that the company has provided does not truly show the economic state of the mercantile company (...); the fact is that a fictitious increase in the negative situation occurs, which cannot be taken into account to correctly deliberate the economic situation of the company in the financial year 2020”.

The references to possible future losses, in the medium or long term, also do not allow the dismissal to be justified. On this subject, we are being moved by mere hypotheses, which have not been presented, in any way, with due strong and evidentiary arguments”

The sentences state that Tubacex inflated the losses to carry out the dismissals, an extremely serious question that we are going to analyse in detail, in case the company has incurred in any other type of responsibility.

In short, the expert report carried out knocks down all the company’s arguments and shows that there are no economic, productive or organisational reasons, as the sentences expressly state.

Tubacex’s aim has clearly been to take advantage of the situation created by the healthcare crisis to make the working conditions of the workforce more insecure. A case which, unfortunately, is not isolated and that has been a regular practice, particularly amongst the large companies that filled their pockets prior to Covid.

We would like to congratulate the workforce at Tubacex, who have been on strike since the 11th of February, as without any doubt this has been the catalysing element to ensure that today we have these sentences on the table. The company now has five days to reinstate the 129 workers. We demand the immediate fulfilment of the sentences, which state:

The defendant company is sentenced to reinstate the affected workers in the effective jobs in the company, with the same conditions in which they were performing their services prior to the group dismissal.” In the case that the company were not to adopt these steps, ELA will study continuing with the strike.

Today the comprehensive repeal of the labour laws that give carte blanche to the companies, making dismissals easier, is more necessary than ever. We urge the political parties that have made statements against the labour reforms to move on from just words, to actions.