José watched the Danone factory in Parets del Vallès near Barcelona face an inevitable end after 41 years. He began working there in the spring of 1983, when he was eighteen, a memory that sticks with him as the company moved from its earlier Barcelona site on Còrsega Street to Parets because it had outgrown the old facility. Back then, yoghurt spent its days in pharmacies and came recommended by doctors. It was a different era, before supermarkets became the main avenue for consumer access. He recalls the moment the regional president Jordi Pujol arrived to inaugurate the new plant. Since that day, forty-one years have slipped by, and the message has become clear: the plant will not continue. He stands outside the company headquarters on Buenos Aires Street, wearing yellow overalls, a quiet testament to the decades observed inside the factory.
On January 12, Danone management informed the Parets del Vallès factory staff that the plant would close. Román, a longtime employee with 34 years at the site, describes the moment: a Christmas period left to reflect before the sudden decision. The white paint on the facade now shows the frustration among workers. He recalls being shut out from questions, told to stay put while the news sank in. Another Parets employee, not directly affected by the first closure wave, shares that he had previously worked for Bacardi in Mollet and quips about luck as if it had run dry. The sentiment is palpable among those who felt the impact first-hand.
Reactions across the factory floor were of astonishment. Management had previously spoken with pride about solid results and a job well done. Verónica, who has spent 17 years on Parets production lines, recounts how just days earlier she had left a meeting convinced a major investment or strategic plan would be announced. The actual news hit like a punch. The blow reverberated through the group.
Publicly the company described the move as an “industrial rationalization” that would close the Parets plant and redirect products such as Oikos, Alpro, and Vitelline to the Aldaia facility in Valencia. A sense of disbelief runs through the dialogue, with a worker named Rome suggesting the end result is a strategic tweak meant to boost profits rather than support the workforce. The narrative from staff hints at inconsistent messaging, contrasting boasts about the plant’s status with a decision that a significant number of jobs would disappear. This marks the beginning of what many see as the end of an iconic chapter in the company’s history, one that began in Barcelona’s Raval in 1919. The Danone name originated from the founder’s pen name Danon, a nod to his family line, and the brand later expanded under broader ownership. In 2016, the founder’s successors divested remaining assets to the French shareholder arm, a transition many workers interpret as a power shift that did not benefit Catalan employees. A worker remarks on the mismatch between the claimed human values and the emphasis on monetary considerations, their words punctuated by the whistles and red flares that marked the moment.
Closing a renovated facility
The announcement caught many off guard, especially since the Parets plant was not obsolete. Unlike the Nissan closure in Catalonia, the Parets plant covers 51,000 square meters of space. The site underwent a 22.7 million euro investment last year to transform it into the group’s sole hybrid plant. Two years earlier, a 6.7 million euro modernization of the plant’s operating systems had been completed, and a robotic warehouse for raw materials had been introduced as part of an ongoing modernization push. The company planned further investments over the following two years, signaling a commitment to efficiency and technology as it evolved.
From this modernization to the start of negotiations with unions over dismissals for 157 workers, the process moved quickly. Early offers included 30 days of pay per year of service, capped at 18 months, with early retirement available from age 58. These terms were viewed as too generous by many employees, and a tighter negotiation approach could stretch over several months as both sides sought a balanced agreement. Management indicated a preference to reach a resolution before year’s end or just after the new year.
One veteran worker reflects on the human cost of the closure. He notes that while his own retirement could still be possible at 60 in October, the real concern lies with colleagues who have built lives around this factory. Families with children faced relocations in Valencia or other sites, and some workers even changed homes to be closer to Parets for convenience. In many cases, that commitment now collides with the reality of finding new work, especially after a year where opportunities are not guaranteed. The sentiment echoes through the ranks as the community comes to terms with this significant transition.