The strong rise in inflation ultimately brings with it a remarkable conflict over labor issues. Shoe workers, who were mobilized recently before the deal was signed, are now On January 23 and 24, and February 6 and 7, about ten thousand road freight workers in the state of Alicante were called to strike.. CC OO and UGT unions are asking the employer for a CPI-linked salary review clause that guarantees purchasing power protection, while employers are offering a 16% increase spread over the four-year payout. Negotiations are at a standstill for the time being, although both sides are open to the possibility of a last-minute deal to prevent mobilisation.
Union centers draw attention to the fact that the employers of the sector, whose salary has not been increased for almost two years, continue to disapprove of the contract they signed at the negotiating table of the collective bargaining agreement that guarantees the purchasing power of the personnel. In a statement, they recall that “companies have recently received diesel subsidies for their vehicles, and that a clause has also been included in their commercial contracts that guarantees the development of diesel cost-related rates. They demanded some guarantees for the evolution of prices, now they are denying their templates by collective bargaining.It is something we will not allow.”
On July 25, 2022, employers Announcing Fetrama, UGT and CC OO reached an agreement at the negotiating table that includes maintaining purchasing power until 2024. Specifically, the retroactive salary increase is 3% for 2021, 3.5% with further CPI updates up to 2% for 2022, 2.5% with up to 1% updates for 2023, and 2% for 2023. salary increase was determined. Same update for 2024. Similarly, on 31 December last year, it was decided to update the tables with reference to the agreed increases and real CPI.
The parties were urged to continue signing throughout September. »However -the unions are lamenting-, employer intends to violate the contract Refusing to approve a text that guarantees the CPI. Although we have tried every possible way to redirect this exception, so far this has not been possible.
The unions assure that staff in the industry face an unsustainable situation and that their representatives “cannot continue to tolerate the disrespectful behavior implied by this blatant breach of contract by employers”. There is no greater disrespect than the violation of a promise made,” they stress.
These are the reasons why they decided to strike for four days. Francisco Gimeno, head of collective bargaining at the CC OO-PV Federation of Citizenship Services, claims that the agreement provides “moderate increases to assist companies in the current context, always provided there is a Salary review at the end”. Which we are not willing to let workers see their economy affected due to the increase in prices.
Francisco Vilaplana, head of the Alicante Highway sector at UGT, expresses himself in similar terms and draws attention to the dangerous situation many workers find themselves in. “Employers – he says – complain that there are no drivers, but what happens is that there are very few who want to devote themselves to international transport and live in a truck with a base salary of 1,200 euros.”
close stances
But entrepreneurs see it differently. Francisco Ortiz, general secretary of the Alicante Provincial Transport Federation (Fetrama), regrets that unions decided to take action at a time when he said “the positions are very close”. Thus, he denies that the employer violated the July contract on the grounds that “a contract is not just a contract on a particular subject, but includes other variables to consider”.
Regarding the union claims regarding the guarantee clause, Ortiz said, “Although they go beyond what companies can undertake. We had proposed a very serious and substantial salary increase, which averaged close to 16 percent in the four-year global calculation.».
In any case, the employer’s representative guarantees: they won’t throw in the towel and “We hope the unions don’t do that either. “We want to negotiate and try to come to an agreement that avoids a strike that could hurt everyone,” he stressed.