Airbus employees gather ahead of a protest against expected job cuts of about 900 workers outside Airbus� factory in Getafe, Spain, July 23, 2020. (Photo by Reuters)

Bearing union banners and chanting behind their face-masks, thousands of Spanish Airbus employees gathered outside a factory near Madrid on Thursday to protest against a restructuring plan that will see hundreds of jobs lost in the country.

We�re protesting because the company, taking advantage of this temporary situation of COVID-19, wants to get rid of 900 workers, said protester Jose Luis Collado, who has worked at the company for 41 years.

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This is a temporary situation. It�s going to pass and we don�t understand why around 1700 people of Airbus Spain have to be fired, Collado told Reuters.

From the factory, the protesters marched two kilometres to Getafe�s town hall where the mayor gave a speech in support of the workers.

For us it�s about defending our rights, defending Spain�s aerospace sector. It needs to be supported, said Lorena Fernandez, another protester with 11 years at the company.

Airbus workers in other regions of Spain joined protests at the company�s plants in Seville and Cadiz, in the south of the country.

In June the company announced it would slash 15,000 jobs from its global workforce after the coronavirus pandemic brought air travel to a screeching halt, decimating demand for the planes and systems that Airbus produces.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has said the government is working with Airbus to find ways to keep jobs in the country, but so far no details on any rescue plan have been released.

France and Germany will bear the brunt of the layoffs, with around 5,000 apiece. But for Spain, with its economy among the worst hit in Europe, the loss of 900 manufacturing jobs is a heavy blow.

Before the coronavirus crisis, Airbus was already planning to cut around 700 jobs in Spain.

And in recent months Japanese automaker Nissan has said it will close three plants in Catalonia, while Alcoa is in the process of shutting a factory in the northwestern region of Galicia.

(Source: Reuters)