Nissan's game

The decision of the Japanese multinational Nissan to choose its Barcelona plants in Zona Franca and Montcada for the production of a new pick-up truck has prompted praise for the maturity of the workforce, who last week accepted salary cuts in order to ensure that the job came their way. The Spanish plant now has employment guaranteed (3,200 direct jobs) at least until 2024. In exchange, the workers have had to accept a wage freeze (there will be no rise in 2012 and in 2013 it will be 0.5 percent), as well as committing to a six-percent rise in productivity.

But while the Spanish government and Nissan Spain are (justifiably) celebrating holding on to these jobs, it is worth bringing to mind some of the facts of the operation. Barcelona was competing with the Nissan plants in South Africa and Morocco. The advantages of the Catalonia option are obvious: proximity to the sales regions, unions conscious of the value of employment in times of crisis, better infrastructure, a skilled workforce, auxiliary industry nearby, and advantages with regard to credit (the government will provide soft loans to finance part of the investment).

To top it all, the South African workers were demanding excessive wage rises and organized a strike to try to get them. In spite of the unbeatable conditions in Barcelona compared to those of the competition, Nissan's management ensured that there were doubts about their final decision in order to ensure the wage freeze deal. They have said that these are exceptional and transitory conditions, but the fact is that the survival of Spanish production repeatedly depends on exceptions of this kind.

Competitive advantages

The Industry Ministry is obliged to reflect on foreign investment in mature sectors and to go further than celebrating the preservation of jobs. As well as salary concessions, manufacturing in Spain offers a lot of competitive advantages that governments- central and regional- must take note of and value.

The times when profitability was based only on low wages have passed. What's more, if there is more investment in innovation, with the aim of Spanish manufacturing offering greater added value, all the better. But that investment does not come. And therein lies the problem.