Spanish baker Panrico plans to lay off 1,900 workers

The newly appointed chief executive officer of struggling Spanish baker Panrico, Carlos Gila, has unveiled to labor representatives a plan to lay off 1,900 employees out of the company’s total workforce of 4,600 and cut wages by between 35 and 45 percent.

The company, which is owned by US fund Oaktree, last week took the unusual step of announcing a “temporary” suspension of wage payments in order to have sufficient liquidity to pay its suppliers.

Of the 1,900 workers to be dismissed, 756 are employed at Panrico’s six factories across Spain, 483 work in technical support and sales, 600 are freelance and 75 belong to the company’s management ranks.

After the meeting on Tuesday with Gila, the chairman of the company’s works committee, Leonardo Rodríguez, said that talks with Panrico’s management on reaching a “framework agreement” had broken down. Labor union representatives had asked Gila for exhaustive information on the current state of the company’s finances.