Hundreds have already lost jobs in Portuguese auto-sector
With this year already proving challenging for businesses in the automotive sector, further job losses are due to follow as the Tupperware factory in Montalvo, Constância, closes its doors, after an almost 45-year-history.
The future of the factory has been hanging in the balance since the parent company in the United States filed for bankruptcy in September.
Hopes were that alternative investors in Portugal could be found, with unions having appealed to the government to intervene.
As Constância mayor Sérgio Oliveira has stressed, it is not just the direct jobs that are likely to be affected – there are many indirect jobs that will suffer from this closure, which is set for January 8.
Tupperware Brands voluntarily initiated Chapter 11 proceedings in the Delaware Bankruptcy Court. In October, the multinational obtained court approval to continue operating and facilitate a sale process to protect the brand. This has since ‘gone through’, with Party Products LLC, a company formed by a group of secured lenders to Tupperware Brands Corporation, acquiring certain assets of the company, including global rights to the Tupperware brand name and related intellectual property as well as operations in core geographic markets – of which Portugal sadly, does not appear to be included.
