[olympiaworkers] Spanish Workers Protest Plant Closure

Tuesday April 24, 2007

Spanish Workers Set Up Burning Barricades to Protest at Car Plant Closure

MADRID, Spain (AP) -- Hundreds of workers set up burning barricades and
piled up rocks to cut off a highway in southern Spain Tuesday in the
latest protest against the planned closure of a U.S.-owned car parts
factory.

Workers shouting, "If Delphi closes, war, war, war," and wearing matching
T-shirts, shut down a stretch of a road leading from the Delphi Corp.
plant to the coastal city of Cadiz.

"This is about maintaining industrial activity. It's for the future of the
bay, our children and grandchildren," said Juan Jose Herrera Andres, a
Delphi worker and union activist, referring to the broader Bay of Cadiz
area, which includes 14 towns that would suffer from the plant closure.

Delphi, based in Troy, Mich., announced in March it would close the plant
in Puerto Real with the loss of 1,500 jobs, blaming high costs for
operating losses of 150 million euros ($196 million) over the past five
years.

Unions say that the closure of the factory, which produces steering
equipment, suspension gear and bearings, will cause severe hardship for
4,000 people who live in the Cadiz region, which already suffers from
de-industrialization.

Over the past month, Delphi employees have been striking for four hours
every Tuesday and Thursday. Last Wednesday workers from each of the 14
towns in the Cadiz area organized a one-day general strike -- the first
coordinated protest.