Neutral. This is how the negotiation of the shoe industry agreement in the province is found. It affects 17,000 workers and 1,700 companies. The unions at the negotiating table, CCOO and UGT, salary hike employees by inflation. losing purchasing power. a) Yes, they want the increase to be linked to the evolution of inflation and includes a Revision clause that allows the CPI increase to be equalized without an upper limitthat’s what the employer wants to put in.
Workers are also making demands. reduction in the annual working day currently set at 1,788 hoursY remove flexibility measures It has always been very connected to the shoe industry, as they consider unnecessary and impermanent permanent contracts.
Employers are ready for an 11.5% salary increase in four years, but refuses to include unlimitedly the revision of the CPI, for which it proposes to set an upper limit at two points. The latter is what keeps both parties from reaching an agreement. collective agreement negotiation in stalemate months after it started.
Troops increased their protests and announce strike for December 1, with 24-hour stops in the industry, if the deal is not agreed in advance. This Thursday they took their protest to the headquarters of the Valencian Footwear Entrepreneurs Association (Avecal) in Elche Business Park.
There, Nearly one hundred workers called by CCOO and UGT, with banners you can read on “For a fair shoe and permanence deal” and “Salary or disagreement in the shoe industry agreement”. And “If this is not resolved, fight, fight, fight!” They informed the bosses that they wanted to raise their protest if an agreement could not be reached with slogans such as: or “Enough of employer abuse.”
A union representation was received by the head of Avecal, Marian Canothey can reiterate their demands for the agreement but before both parties reach an agreement once again, the employer wants revision of the IPC stopped, something the unions refuse to negotiate. The shoe deal affects 54,000 people across Spain, and about 17,000 in the province of Alicante. Majority in Vinalopó and Vega Baja regions.
a) Yes, worker representatives demand a salary revision of 4% for this year, 3% in 2023, 2.5% in 2024 and 2% in 2025, and a change in real CPI. Additionally, they need reduce working hoursBy increasing the scope of work accidents, which they consider as one of the highest in the manufacturing sector with 1,788 hours, adapting the expression of fixed-permanent contracts to labor reform or remove unnecessary flexibility by increasing the percentage from the first hour.
On your own behalf employer offers a 4% increase from 1 July 2022A figure that will exceed the 3.5% salary increase set by the Spanish Government for civil servants in 2023, an increase of 3% for next year, 2.5% for 2024 and 2% for 2025, which will be revised based on the CPI realized at the end of the period, It is capped at 2%.
In short, a salary increase of 11.5 points, which could reach 13.5% over the 2% cap. “This is a more reasonable and reasonable offer than the Government has made to the authorities,” says Marián Cano, head of Avecal.
But this Thursday, workers from all the shoemaking towns of the province and, if German, Albacete voiced their opposition to the reduction in purchasing power, which they guaranteed would be at the employer’s offer.
In addition to Elche, the shoe industry also held protests in other shoe cities today, such as Arnedo in La Rioja or Fuensalida (Toledo). “The joke that the bosses give us, because the cost of living is rising, but wages are not,” he complains. carmen palomarCCOO Secretary General Vinalopó-Vega Baja.
The unions insist that the increase is linked to the evolution of inflation and that a revision clause was included that allowed the increase to be matched with the CPI. “We will not allow the workers to become pagan, The shoe industry is already quite unstable.“, sign Ismail Senente, Secretary General of the UGT in Muntanya, Vinalopó and Vega Baja.
No generational change
It’s all in the context of an industry with an average age over 55 years old and the resilience of generational change that unions attribute to poor working conditions and “millers’ wages”, as well as facing challenges. “Not an attractive industry for young people”, points to Carmen Palomar, something Ismael Senent nods. “Unless a deal is made on good terms, it will never be an attractive industry,” Senent warns.
However, claiming that it is willing to negotiate and reach agreement, Avecal wants the unions to conform to the reality of the sector, which it has ensured that it is experiencing one of the biggest crises due to the pandemic. facing a very uncertain future because they insist from Avecal, the loss of family income due to the increase in the cost of living (prices, electricity or petrol) affects the first sector in vogue.. “People, the first thing they cut off is fashion consumption”Marian reassures Cano.
But unions, shoe companies They are exporting more than ever, about 900 millionthey are tired of working, it is not true that they sell at a loss”, Manuel Dominguez CCOO is responsible for the collective agreement of the shoe contract.
Another point that bosses and unions face is labor reform. forcing the province to move its shoes to 15,000 permanent workers. Industry warns it will push towards ERE, requested by the Ministry of Labor to take into account its temporality.. Companies are demanding to maintain the number of discontinuous permanent workers “because it is necessary for our industry,” Cano says, adding that the Labor Inspectorate “implements certain rigidities that limit the situation and make flexibility impossible.” industry needs
Carmen Palomar takes a completely different view, with worker representatives warning that a worker who has been out of work for 60 days is “actually a permanent worker with 30 days off plus 30 more.” she she “It is not possible to keep workers a la carte”.
So stances are very held right now faced and currently without the possibility of a dialogue channel, with the salary review clause as the reason for blocking the negotiation. If the positions are not approached, on 1 December the footwear industry across Spain will take a 24-hour break as the start of further pressure action.