Constância, Portugal, Feb. 13, 2025 (Lusa) - The 200 or so workers at the Tupperware factory in Montalvo, Constância (Santarém), which was declared insolvent on Monday, received their redundancy letters on Thursday, on a "sad" day, following a meeting with the insolvency manager.
"It's sad, it's not easy, but I have nothing left to lose. I've worked for 44 years. There are colleagues of mine who are in a much worse situation," Alzira Cupertino told Lusa today, as she left the meeting that took place inside the factory, having realised that the insolvency manager had assured the workers that their compensation would be paid.
According to her, an inventory of all the existing material will be made, then there will be the bureaucratic red tape and the sale of material. All in all, the manager says it could take between eight months and a year before we get paid," said Alzira, who lives in Amoreira (Abrantes), with her redundancy letter in one hand and uncertainty about her future in the other.
"Today I've been sacked. I'm going to be unemployed for now and then maybe take early retirement if it pays off," she said.
The company that owns the Tupperware factory in Montalvo, Constância, was declared insolvent on Monday by the Lisbon District Court, an outcome that put 200 people out of work today, with the workers telling Lusa of a feeling of resignation in the face of an "expected outcome" but where there was still a faint hope of the factory continuing.
"We're fired, that's it. We've already been given unemployment cards and everything. Now, they're waiting to sell the factory. We know that the first creditors are us, the workers. Then it's the others, but now we have to wait for them to sell," Carla, 42 years old and 24 years at home, told Lusa today.
The former employee of the North American multinational, who lives in Alferrarede Velha, said it was "important" to have the unemployment papers. "It's the most important thing because this month, we're not going to receive anything," she noted, pointing to a compensation process that could take a year to fruition.
"The workers now have 30 days to claim the credits [compensation for each year of work], which is what the lawyer is going to do. After those 30 days, they will activate the Wage Guarantee Fund, which, according to what they say, gives about 15,000 [euros] to entitled people. Those entitled to more will receive it later, and they've given us more or less the prospect of a year" for the respective payment.
Asked about her state of mind in the face of collective redundancy, Carla said she was "very sorry" about the outcome. "Very, very sorry. It's very sad to go into the factory and see everything at a standstill, everything in the dark. It's been 24 years. Now we have to wait and see if anything comes of it."
Cristina Brunheta, who is 59 years old and has worked at Tupperware for 22 years, left the company with a piece of paper to hand in to the unemployment fund but with no prospects for the future, being "young for retirement" but foreseeing "difficulties" in returning to the labour market.
"Now we're going to hand in the paper for unemployment. We'll have to wait for them to sell and find the money to pay us the indemnities. From then on they say that we come first, as creditors. We're the main ones, the first to get paid when there's money. Now let's see how this pans out," he declared, revealing “uncertainty” about his future.
"My future? I don't know. I don't know yet. It's all to be studied, I don't know yet. Now I'm going to be unemployed, and the future is uncertain," she said.
The representative of the Manufacturing Industries Union (SITE CRSA), Isabel Matias, remained at the factory throughout the morning, lamenting to Lusa the "dismissal of 200 people", the "uncertainty about the future", and the "social problems" inherent, and emphasised that the workers left the meeting "satisfied" because they had said that their rights would be paid.
"They show that they are satisfied because they actually say they are going to get paid. These are amounts that really make you happy. But only after knowing what has been presented to the court, after making the initial application to the court with the amounts, and after all this time has passed, will there also be a creditors' meeting. So we won't know until the end," she said cautiously.
According to Isabel Matias, "the hope is that the company will be bought, that it will reopen, and that it will take on workers. We'll see. That was our expectation and what we were all happy about," she concluded.
Tupperware - Indústria Lusitana de Artigos Domésticos, Lda, the company that owns the factory in Montalvo, which has been out of production since 8 January, was declared insolvent on Monday 10 February by the Lisbon District Court.
According to the court judgement, "the deadline for creditor claims was set at 30 days", and Jorge Manuel and Seiça Dinis Calvete were appointed as insolvency administrators.
The Tupperware factory in Montalvo was controlled by Tupperware Indústria Lusitana de Artigos Domésticos, which in turn was 74% owned by Tupperware Portugal - Artigos Domésticos Unipessoal Lda and 26% by Tupperware Iberia.
Both companies are 100% dependent on their US-based parent company - the Tupperware Brands Corporation.
The multinational Tupperware factory in Portugal, which has been operating since 1980, depended 100% on the US parent company, which was sold after it filed for bankruptcy in September, and plans for the future don't seem to include Europe, since the company has revoked its licence to sell products in all European countries.
Lusa has requested information from the management of the factory in Portugal but has received no response so far.
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