-What do you remember of the day the plant was closed down?

-Nobody ever told us we were being laid off. The day before it was closed down, we had gone to the plant to work, and had even filled the cold storage chambers to capacity. Then the next day they wouldn’t even let us in. The only thing that the security guards who were at the gate said to us was that we had to wait outside on the street.

We told them that we worked in the factory and that we should be waiting inside, but it was useless. We had no idea what was going on. Later, when the managers came, they told us that nobody was going to be let in to the plant, to the Production department, because the company was closed.

-What happened next?

-It was awful. They wouldn’t give us any explanations. One of the women workers was having a nervous breakdown and she fainted. Others were in shock. They couldn’t understand what was happening. Some of these workers had been working at the plant for many more years than me, and were much older. I think they should’ve taken the trouble to explain what was going to happen, under different conditions, not like it happened, letting us know all of a sudden, with no previous warning. Everybody was crying then, because they knew it would be very hard to find another job. And even though I’m much younger than a lot of them, I still haven’t been able to find anything, and as far as I know, none of the laid off workers have.

-How did you feel at the time?

-I felt really bad, because that was a terrible moment for me, my wife had been diagnosed with cancer. And the company had already been treating me badly, because since my wife needed two really expensive medicines I had asked for a loan to pay the first two doses, and they had treated me worst than an animal. The Human Resources manager was so cruel she even had me investigated! She didn’t believe that my wife had cancer. She even asked for the telephone number of the doctor that was treating my wife, although it was obvious my wife was sick, as she’d just had surgery and was still in the hospital. Even after talking to the doctor, she accused me of having schemed with the doctor to defraud the company.

What I had to go through was so horrible that I almost fainted when they accused me. Some of the workers will tell you that they had to throw water on my face so I would come out of shock. I couldn’t breathe, because after working for so many years for the company I never imagined that I would deserve to be treated that way. And then came that other big shock, when they closed down the plant. If they had told us ahead of time, we would’ve tried to solve the problem, we would’ve had more time. But the way they did it, out of the blue… it was brutal.

-How many people are under your care?

-I have my wife, who is slowly getting better, thank God, and we have two daughters, a nine year old and a six year old. When the company refused to give me the loan, even after investigating me, the other workers helped me a lot, each contributing what they could, and then all the money the company has paid until now I’ve spent on medicines and medical expenses. A couple of days ago she had her last examination and, thank God, she’s in remission for now.

-How did this affect your family?

-It was a very painful experience. We suffered a great setback. Imagine, a poor person like me, with hardly any means, and with a sick wife –the most valuable thing I have. She’s everything to me, she’s the mother of what I most love in this life, which are my girls. It’s not easy to bear. I thought she was going to die, because when they refused to give me the loan, she lost all hope of getting better. But then I decided to buy the medicines first, and hope that God would help us cover our household expenses. When she found out I was out of a job, it was really hard on her, she suffered as much as I did with the news.

-Are you still out of a job?

-Yes, I am.

-And how do you get by?

-Sometimes a friend calls me to do an odd job together, mostly in construction or some other minor thing. But that’s only sometimes. And when I get one of those odd jobs I earn just enough for us to eat that day.

-Do you still get together with your fellow plant workers?

-Yes, whenever I can. I will be eternally grateful to them for their solidarity, because without them I would’ve never been able to buy my wife’s medicine. They helped me a lot. I feel like I lost a family that helped me in ways I’d never imagine. When things got tough, they came through, they were my brothers, my neighbors, my friends… everything to me. In the most difficult time they were there for me and they made sure I was never alone. I know that what Nestlé did to us was very harsh, but I ask everyone not to give up, to keep fighting to try to recover at least part of what we lost.

-What is your opinion of Nestlé?

-Frankly, if it really cared about its people as it claims it does, it would never have done this to its workers... a big company, a company that seemed so responsible, I never dreamed it would do such a thing. They know that there are a lot of people who are too old to get another job, workers that no other company will take in, and they forget that these workers got old working for them, at Nestlé, giving the company the best years of their lives. I never thought they could treat us like garbage. Because that’s how I felt. All those years we spent working there, we thought we were all part of a big family at Nestlé. But we learned the hard way that we never meant a thing to them. They threw us out on the street. They didn’t even warn us, and they were incapable of treating us with the least bit of dignity.

-What would you say to other Nestlé workers in the rest of the world?