Spain has a 100-year history of automotive industry and mass production started already in the 1950s. There are more than 200,000 direct manufacturing jobs and nearly 2 million in the broader ecosystem. Electification is finally gaining speed and several battery factory projects have been announced.
In 2024, Stellantis and China's CATL published a 50:50 joint venture to build a 50 GWh battery plant in Figuerelas near Zaragoza, using the lithium-iron-phospate (LFP) technology. Construction is underway, and CATL has brought 2000 workers from China to support the project, as such expertise does not exist yet in Spain. 3000 Spanish staff will be hired and trained later. The site is close to Stellantis's existing vehicle manufacturing plant in Zaragoza. Last year the Spanish government announced that it will support the project with € 133 million as part of its PERTE programme, which gets most of its funds from the EU's NextGeneration EU budget line.
Volkswagen subsidiary PowerCo is building a battery cell plant using in Sagunto near Valencia. It is planned move into production in early 2027 at 10 GWh, rising gradually to 40 GWh with 3000 workers. Also this factory starts with LFP technology, keeping nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) as an option.
Spanish industriAll Europe affiliates support the strategy to develop the country into another European battery hub after Hungary. CCOO Industria's Raul Villar underlined that it is crucial to link public aid to sustainable quality employment, guarantee training and a Just Transition for the workforce, and strengthen the entire global value chain from raw materials to components and recycling of batteries.
The unions are determined to maintain the high unionisation rate in the automotive industry. UGT FICA's Jordi Carmona said that as the unions have convinced about 90 percent of autoworkers to join their unions, they are confident that they will also manage to convince the newcomers in the battery factories to follow suit. But organising the youth requires result-oriented strategies and determined organising action.
Miguel Ratia from USO Industria highlighted the need for the unions to demonstrate to the young workers that they are there to fight for their interests, including decent wages and safe working conditions.
Spanish unions also want to take care of workers employed by sub-contractors and build European cooperation with other unions like Germany's IG Metall which is already present at Volkswagen and CATL.
IndustriALL Global Union's director of industrial policy Diana Junquera informed the participants of the work the worldwide organisation to strengthen unionisation and collective bargaining throughout the battery supply chains, including the mining and refining industries in Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
"Spain is a key country in the transformation of the automotive industry, where strong unions will guarantee a Just Transition with progressive collective agreements and safe and healthy battery factories", said Judith Kirton-Darling, General Secretary of industriAll Europe.