It was around about a year ago that Assyce, a leading company in renewable energy, opened up its new installations in Padul. Local politicians were full of praise, saying that this enterprise heralded a new future for the town… Assyce has since laid off 90% of its staff.

Assyce Group, which is a Spanish holding company, owes their Padul workers six months in salaries, so the lay-off caught nobody by surprise. Apparently, there have been several court sentences ordering the company to cough up, but so far they have failed to do so.

Assyce was founded in 2004 and in 2010, owing to its rapid expansion, the Padul plant was opened in the offices that the building suppliers, Pérez Lázaro, had. At the inauguration a provincial council representative praised the company’s Granada roots and proclaimed Assyce as the leading renewable-energy firm in Andalucia, with a promising future on an international level. The company had signed contracts all over the world, including Thailand.

To cover this demand the company had drafted in 180 workers, but then the crisis really bit down hard, which highlighted problems in projects and management. The company began an alarming descent and by December of last years, staff stopped receiving their salaries.

“They carried out an ERE [went into receivership] which was ‘irregular,’ in our opinion, and began to lay people off,” commented one worker, adding, ” There were 160 of us working here, but now there are only 20.”

Those that were laid off received no compensation, as if being owed 6-month’s salary weren’t enough to swallow, so they took the company to court. The judge decided in favour of the workers but the company lodged an appeal and with the speed that the Spanish judicial system works, they could be waiting a long time for a final verdict.

But the company not only owes its ex-workers money; it has reportedly also run up bills with the Tax Office and Social Security.

(News: Padul, Lecrin Valley, Granada, Andalucia)