Electrolux Rosario Plant Closes: Argentina Loses Up to 200 Factory Jobs

ARGENTINA · INDUSTRY

Electrolux has stopped making appliances in Argentina. The Swedish group closed its factory in Rosario on 26 September and will now import everything it sells in the country.

The Electrolux Rosario plant once employed about 800 people.

By this month, reports put the workforce at between 180 and 200. The metalworkers’ union says dismissal notices went to the entire workforce.

What Electrolux announced

The company told staff on Friday, 25 September. In a statement, it said it had decided “to evolve towards a global supply model, supported by the Group’s international production network”.

“This decision is part of Electrolux Group’s plan to improve efficiency and strengthen the competitiveness of its operations globally,” the statement said. It added that the company “is aware of the impact this decision has on the people involved”.

Electrolux says it is not leaving Argentina. It will keep selling under its own name and the local Gafa brand, and promises warranties, repairs and spare parts as before.

A plant that had been shrinking

The closure ends a slide that began more than a year ago. In October 2025 the company put about 400 workers on rotating suspensions as sales fell and stock piled up, according to Infobae.

In March 2026 it opened a voluntary redundancy scheme for 100 workers, and more than 130 signed up, union sources told Infobae. The offer was full severance plus three extra monthly salaries.

In the first half of 2026, Electrolux stopped making fridges in Rosario and began importing them.

Union delegate Adrián Cartazo told Rosario3 that only freezers were still made there. Fridges, washing machines and cookers came from Brazil and China, he said.

The workers who remained had, on average, about 15 years at the plant, Cartazo said. The factory, run by the Electrolux subsidiary Frimetal SA, sits on Batlle y Ordóñez street in Rosario’s south-west.

Local radio Cadena 3 reported that the plant had about 800 employees at the end of 2023. Electrolux has about 300 staff in Argentina in total, according to Infobae.

The union’s case

The Unión Obrera Metalúrgica, Argentina’s metalworkers’ union, learned of the closure by phone. Its Rosario lawyer, Pablo Cerra, said a meeting to introduce new human-resources managers was cancelled ten minutes before it began.

“In the UOM we do not negotiate severance pay. We ask for the dismissals to be annulled,” Cerra said, as quoted by the Rosario daily La Capital.

“We know they have no intention of producing,” he told Rosario radio LT8.

The union argues that the dismissals are illegal because the company skipped Argentina’s preventive crisis procedure. That process, set by a 1991 employment law, requires talks under official supervision before mass lay-offs.

It has filed a formal complaint with Santa Fe’s labour ministry.

Union members planned to gather outside the ministry’s Rosario office at 9.45 a.m. on Monday, 28 September. A hearing with the company was set for 10 a.m.

A wider shift in Argentine appliances

Argentina has long protected its appliance makers with import barriers. As those have come down under Milei, imported goods have taken a growing share of a flat market.

Appliance sales fell about 3 percent in units from January to May 2026, according to NielsenIQ figures cited by La Nación. That is small, but imports have been gaining ground since the second half of 2024.

Cerra put the problem in blunt terms. “There is nothing good about cheap goods from abroad if you do not have workers with purchasing power,” he said.

The closure comes as forecasters cut their numbers for the economy. JP Morgan recently lowered its 2026 growth forecast for Argentina to 1.5 percent.

What comes next

Monday’s hearing is the first formal step, and the union wants the ministry to declare the dismissals void.

The province can mediate. Reports have not said whether it will order compulsory conciliation, a legal pause that can freeze lay-offs while talks continue.

The closure does not mean Electrolux products disappear from Argentine shops, or that the company is leaving the country. It means Argentina has one fewer appliance factory, and Rosario a large idle building.

Cerra said the company has not decided what to do with the site. “It will be completely idle, because the idea is not to produce,” he told Rosario3.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Electrolux leaving Argentina?

No. Electrolux says it will keep selling in Argentina under the Electrolux and Gafa brands, with warranty, repairs and spare parts. It has stopped manufacturing there and will import its products instead.

How many jobs are affected by the Electrolux Rosario closure?

Reports differ. Infobae puts the plant’s workforce at about 180 operators and reports about 100 dismissals under consideration; the metalworkers’ union says dismissal notices were sent to about 200 workers.

Where will Electrolux products for Argentina come from?

From the group’s factories abroad. A union delegate told Rosario3 that fridges, washing machines and cookers were already being brought in from Brazil and China.

What is the union asking for?

The metalworkers’ union wants the dismissals annulled rather than negotiating severance. It says the company skipped a legally required crisis procedure, and has taken the case to Santa Fe’s labour ministry.

Sources: La Nación, 25 September 2026 (includes the company statement), Infobae, 25 September 2026, La Capital, 25 September 2026, Perfil, 25 September 2026 (citing Rosario3 and Cadena 3), Rosario3, 27 September 2026. Electrolux Group statement of 25 September 2026 (press release), as published by La Nación and Infobae. All retrieved 28 September 2026.

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