-How have
you been dealing with the plant’s closure?
-The
situation is of complete uncertainty. I had been working at Nestlé
for eight years and this sudden closure, without any consideration for the
workers, has left us all very distressed. Some of us are suffering from
depression, because even after three months there are many who have not
found any work and are literally in the street.
-What do
you think of Nestlé’s attitude in all this?
-What the
company’s management did was heartless, specially considering the effort
that us workers had been making since the year 2005, putting in three shifts
from Monday to Monday, an effort in which all workers participated, so that
the company could get ahead, and what we received as payment for our efforts
was this terrible blow out of nowhere. Whole families have been left out on
the street.
-They’re
saying that Nestlé has rehired 25 percent of the personnel, relocating them
in other plants...
-That’s not
true. They relocated the people that were closest to management, as simple
as that.
-How have
the competent authorities -the Ministry of Labor- reacted to this situation?
-After we
had filed the corresponding report with the Ministry, the Secretary of Labor
explained to us that the company could not reopen, saying that the company’s
reasons were justified and forsaking the workers.
-What
message would you like to send Nestlé workers around the world?
-That
Nestlé has always had two faces, one for its workers and the union, and
the other for its public image. We must stand united to confront the
destructive policy of this transnational corporation, which doesn’t think
twice about leaving its workers out on the street.