Piaggio closes its Derbi motorbike factory in Catalonia

Barcelona (ACN).- The Italian Group Piaggio has decided to transfer the production of the Derbi factory in Martorelles in Barcelona’s Metropolitan Area to Italy. The factory produces scooters of 50 and 125 cc. It employs more than 230 people. Piaggio announced the decision on Monday at the presentation of the group’s results for 2010. Today the chairman of the worker’s union, Josep Maria Ferràs, confirmed Piaggio’s decision to CNA. The workers still do not have the details of the transfer, nor an explanation of the reasons. However, the decrease in scooter sales in the Spanish market for the last years seems to be one the causes. The motorbike sector is going through a crisis - just last month the Yamaha factory in Catalonia announced its closure and issued a mass layoff last week. According to Ferràs, the decision is “political”. Its objective is “to satisfy the Italian government and the Italian trade unions”.

The transfer of the production represents the closing of the historical factory where Derbi and Rabassa motorbikes have been produced. Derbi was a Catalan motorbike company founded in the early 1920s that was bought in 2001 by the Italian scooter manufacturer Piaggio. Closing the Martorelles plant affects 200 fixed-term jobs and 33 temporary workers. However, they will not be the only ones affected: the supplying companies and service providers will also lose out on business. For some of them, Derbi’s decision, which comes on top of Yamaha’s, may represent a serious threat for their company’s viability.

“Rationalising the Group’s structure in Europe”

Piaggio presented yesterday its results for 2010. The company’s board announced it had approved the “restructuring of the productive activities” in the factory the company has in Catalonia, in Martorelles (in Barcelona’s Metropolitan Area). The factory manufactures Derbi motorbikes, under the company ‘Nacional Motor SAU’. According to Piaggio, the decision’s objective is “not only to rationalise the Group’s structure in Europe and guarantee a greater efficiency and productivity, but also to improve the competitiveness of the Derbi product”. Piaggio stated that the decision will “support the growth of the Spanish brand’s market shares”.

At the end of February, mayors from towns close to the Martorelles factory were asking the Catalan and the Spanish Government to try to avoid the closing of the Derbi’s plant. Besides, the General Union of Workers (UGT) was also claiming the public administrations to intervene to ensure the viability of all the companies related to motorbike and car industry. Catalonia is a cluster of the motorbike and car industry.

In 2001 Piaggio bought Derbi. In September 2009, the Italian company already split the company in 3 parts and 53 workers were laid off or offered an early retirement since then. In addition, the company reduced significantly the production of scooters and motopeds in Martorelles. According to the workers’ union, from the 24,000 bikes manufactured in 2010, the company’s forecast for 2011 is to produce 20,000 bikes.

The union’s vision

The worker’s union representative said that the company announced the decision yesterday at the stakeholders meeting. It officially released the decision today to the Martorell workers. “For some time we have been intuiting this. When we were asking about it, they [the factory’s management] were telling us they didn’t know anything about it”, told Ferràs. He also complained about the fact that Piaggio refused to communicate the decision “face to face” to the workers, which in his words was “a shame”. According to Ferràs, since the moment the workers started to be suspicious of the company’s intentions, they met will all the possible actors, including the Catalan Government. The union representative thinks that the Catalan elections interfered in Piaggio’s decision as the company framed its decision when the previous Government’s staff was leaving and the new one was taking office. Ferràs emphasised that the Catalan Government always listened to them and that they have “always” been in contact with the Government’s Director General for Employment. “They listened to us and they took care of the issue. Last week we were with the Director General for Employment [of the Catalan Government] and we had a meeting with the company scheduled tomorrow”, told Ferràs.

Ferràs thinks that the decision is “political” as recently Piaggio transferred part of its production from Italy to Vietnam and the decision caused problems with the Italian government and the trade unions. Still according to Ferràs, the Piaggio’s decision is “a way of satisfying the Italian government, the trade unions and the workers”. The company is supposed to present this Wednesday a document to the workers on which it states the reasons for the production transfer. According to Ferràs, Derbi’s factory “is a viable business” and the closing could be negotiated.