FUTURE OF MAJORICA UP IN THE AIR AGAIN

Staff reporter AN uncertain future and a crisis, which for more than two years, have hung over the Majorica Pearl company, are once again the centre of political debate in Manacor. In a united effort to relaunch the artificial pearl company and assure it a trading future, all the political groups at Manacor Town Council reached an agreement at last Monday's plenary session. Although the meeting was not short of confrontational debate between the ruling Popular Party and the Opposition Socialists, the aim of keeping the pearl factory operational along with the maximum amount of already-existing jobs emerged as mutual. And so, the Town Council of Manacor, unitedly gave support to the mayor's proposal that any plan for reflotation of the Majorica Pearl company “needs to be approved in advance by the Balearic government, the company of Majorica and union representatives”. Additionally, any formula for supporting a relaunch has to include “the principle of retaining as many positions of employment as possible”. One of the key areas of the agreement stipulates that whatever support is given by the Balearic government or Manacor Town Council to Majorica, should be within the framework of the company's viability as a going concern and with a view to keeping the installations of the factory in Manacor. The spokesperson for Manacor's Socialist Opposition group, Mercè Arner, reminded the assembly at last Monday's meeting, that over the last year at Majorica, “there had been a steady trickly of redundancies, usually agreed in advance”. Arner was making reference to more than fifty positions of employment at the pearl factory that had “disappeared” following behind the scenes agreemnets reached with management. Consequently, the Socialist representative declared that “the situation is even more serious now than it was two years ago. It is therefore crucial that consensus on a solution is reached between all political groups in order to refloat Majorica. All parties were united in making sure the factory remained in Manacor and was not relocated away from the area.