The management of the steel company ArcelorMittal offered last night with the workers’ representative a final framework agreement for all its plants in Spain. guarantees Consumer price index (CPI) real for each of the four years of validity (2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025), as well as 0.75% unconsolidated variable amount Subject to targets that should be defined in the agreement for 2023, 2024 and 2025. It also made other changes with improvements in various aspects.
During the negotiation day that started in the morning, this latest management proposal, which emerged after various offers and counter-offers from both the business world and the union, was evaluated as “inadequate” by UGT-FICA and CC OO. Although “advances” are allowed in case of CC OO. The USO went further and said last night “there are significant advances and signs that it can be signed”. “Negotiations were held today and positions were reached on which to form the basis for an agreement.” “We are very close,” the negotiators from this formation added.
But, The proposed session, which was proposed as the final and definitive negotiation session, ended before the parties thought that the negotiations had broken down, but without the parties calling for a new meeting or expressing this possibility..
So, closer than ever to a final agreement, it was unknown whether talks would continue last night. On April 21, companies and unions committed themselves to the Asturian Extralegal Dispute Resolution Service (Sasec) at the request of the centres, yesterday’s last day of negotiation, thus signing a commitment between the parties. In addition, Asturias committees (with the exception of CC OO) have agreed to suspend mobilizations that will begin last Monday to give the deal one last chance, as the company claims it will not negotiate under strike pressure.
The current situation is that there will be a two-hour strike in the various shifts that CC OO calls alone, and tomorrow, Friday, another two-hour strike is called by the three committees of Avilés, Gijón and the mineral park. and this will mean the beginning of a gradual increase of strikes on non-consecutive days and the increasing duration throughout the month.
In addition to guaranteeing purchasing power, Last night, the company proposed a three-year seniority calculation at the same rate as current five-year terms. (three-fifths of the value), the procedure for inclusion of individual contract workers (in the case of intermediate managers) in the contract – to be defined in each specific area – and Separation of personnel born in 1962 with assistance contracts and other formulas pending for the repair of blast furnace A in Gijón (damaged in a fire on March 22) and the approval of investments in the Gijón plant’s new electric steelworks and future direct demineralization plant del hierro (DRI), the company’s It will replace blast furnace A within the framework of the decarbonization plans it has requested for one to two months to clarify the conditions and procedure for leaving the working group.
The company in turn offered improvement of group insurance in case of complete permanent disability For workers established after 2000, there are no improvements in paid leave, flexible remuneration for all workers who are part of the contract, no dining room allowance for individual contracted staff with regular split shifts, and two-day unpaid redeemable savings compensation days for calendars and this will be regulated in collective agreements.
UGT considers the proposal insufficient as it does not resolve the exits of older staff, does not stabilize temporary workers and does not guarantee investment. CC OO sees little economic proposition and fallacy in other improvements offered.
Controlled explosions continue to drain the burning furnace.
Controlled micro-explosions inside ArcelorMittal’s blast furnace A in Gijón set fire to emptying the furnace and removing the solidified pig iron on March 22, followed by a new round of detonations yesterday afternoon. The first intervention with this procedure performed the previous day was not enough to remove the accumulated material. Neither were previous attempts with other procedures and techniques. Removing pig iron adhering to the furnace walls is a condition for detecting damage, identifying the source of water leaks that caused the explosion and subsequent fire, and re-starting the crucible that was damaged in the past. accident and other components may also be affected.