Garay rubbers

Description of events

Arms factory
Date : –
Address :  Located in the Retuerto neighborhood, at the end of the current Euskadi avenue

Before the war, rubber elements were manufactured for industry, such as coatings, sheets, tanks and plates, around 150 people worked. Mikel Aizpuru says that “in the social sphere there were no labor conflicts, nor did the factories be occupied, only in isolated cases, as in the case of Gomas Garay, in which the workers dismissed two managers for considering them factious ”(vol. I, p.189).

During the war this factory was at the service of the Government of the Republic and became a war industry.

Anti-gas equipment, cartridge belts and straps were produced. They produced 3,000 gas masks a day that were never used since there were no gas attacks on the Northern Front.

It was in this factory where the Lehendakari José Antonio Agirre and General Gamir met with the leaders of the Gordexola battalion to decide whether or not to destroy Barakaldo’s industry.

During the post-war period, this factory continued to function almost normally, employing women.

This factory was located in the Retuerto neighborhood. José María Garay Sesumaga, owner of this factory, also built the Church of the Sacred Heart, on lands he owns. The Christ who is on top of that church looks towards the factory. Currently it does not exist.

SOURCES : 
AIZPURU, Mikel (2010). Barakaldo, an industrial city: boom and consolidation (1900-1937). Vol. I. Bilbao: Beta III Milenio, DL 
LÓPEZ, Koldobika (2016). The Civil War in Barakaldo. Eleven months of resistance. Bilbao: Beta Editions.