FedEx to Cut 96 Jobs in Spain, Shift Operations to Morocco and Turkey

This measure is part of a European strategy to reduce "structural costs" and to relocate and outsource to countries like Morocco "where labor is cheaper and where rights are fewer," explains the General Union of Workers (UGT) to El Diario. Last June, FedEx announced in a press release its intention to reduce the workforce of its commercial and administrative teams in Europe, "between 1,700 and 2,000 people."

It is in this context that FedEx has initiated a collective dismissal procedure for "economic reasons" in Spain where it employs some 1,500 people. In total, 96 employees will be laid off in "Madrid, Barcelona (Zona Franca), Bilbao, Vitoria, Zaragoza, Seville, Valencia, Malaga and Cadiz," union sources report, criticizing these unfair layoffs. It is a "simple economic interest" of the multinational, denounces Carlos Pellejero, general secretary of FSC-CCOO in Catalonia.

"A large part of the staff, especially in customer service, will be outsourced and contracted in Morocco," FedEx said, also announcing a "relocation of jobs to its centers in Turkey, Poland and Portugal." Similarly, customer service and technology support positions will disappear due to "the automation of processes with artificial intelligence," the same sources add.

FedEx had already carried out a collective dismissal in 2021 in Spain, terminating the contract of 182 employees. "Previously, there were also two processes of substantial modification of working conditions that also led to the departure of some colleagues," the UGT said.