Human rights and civil society groups say an international scheme established in 2003 to prevent the

CLASHES broke out today between Spanish yard workers involved in a new general strike and police in Vigo – despite a stark warning that all its yards now face closure.

The chairman of the HJ Barreras yard in the northwestern Spanish city, José Francisco González Viñas, warned that Vigo’s yards collectively face €1Bn ($1.39Bn) in fines because of expected delays in 32 newbuilding deliveries.

Police used rubber bullets today to disperse workers outside the Metal Ships yards in Vigo and the French carmaker Citroën, where the general strike paralysed activity.

Barreras has already sent the newbuilding WG Magellan, being built for Norway’s WesternGeco, to Portugal’s Viano do Castelo yard for finishing work.

The move was to prevent the order from being cancelled, said the Barreras boss, who added: "The water has risen up to our necks."

Viñas added: "Our room for manoeuvre to solve the situation is only a question of hours. We need to start working 24 hours, round the clock, to save contracts.

“Otherwise, there will be a chain of bankruptcies, resulting in the closure of the all yards."

For example, Barreras faces an initial fine of €98M if, as expected, WG Magellan is not delivered on 10 July. More orders for Spanish ferry owner Balearia are expected to be delayed.

Labour strife has disrupted production since March, with 8,000 yard jobs now under threat. Yard executives said 3.5M working hours have been lost.

Still, Galician union CIG – which represents 49% of metal industry workers – responded to the Viñas warning by accusing yard executives of using fear tactics to press workers to accept pay raises proposed by metal industry managers.

(Source: Fairplay Daily News)