The Catalan government has authorized a temporary employment regulation file (ERTE) affecting 458 meat sector workers in Santa Eugènia de Berga, due to an outbreak of African swine fever detected near Barcelona. The measure, requested by a temporary employment agency, is due to force majeure and allows the affected workers to access unemployment benefits.
The outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) near Barcelona has triggered the first ERTE in the region's meat sector. The Department of Business and Labor of the Catalan government has approved the file requested by the temporary employment agency GCT Plus, which provided 458 workers to four companies in the Osona comarca, including Grupo Jorge in Santa Eugènia de Berga.
These workers, who performed tasks in slaughterhouses and processing plants, have been returned to the originating ETT by the affected companies, which have chosen to dispense with them amid the health alert. The ASF, recently detected, has not yet impacted Catalan pig farms, which remain free of the disease, but has prompted measures such as halving the wild boar population in Catalonia to manage the risk.
In particular, Grupo Jorge dismissed 300 temporary workers from its slaughterhouse in Santa Eugènia de Berga at the start of the outbreak. This situation endangers Catalan exports worth nearly 1 billion euros to countries outside the European Union, as well as around 11,000 jobs dependent on the sector in Barcelona province. The ERTE, justified by force majeure, provides a safety net for workers through access to unemployment benefits while the animal health crisis is managed.
