Spanish sector telecommunication Prepares for a seizure with systemic effects. Corporate and shareholding earthquakes facing all major telecommunications companies (Telefónica, Orange, Vodafone and MásMóvil) and this development, which will take place in the coming months, will change the near future of the sector and threaten to have a direct impact on the employment of large groups.
In an industry where thousands of people have already lost their lives in the last decade, fear that so many moves will lead to new layoffs is starting to spread among company employees. Telephone It has finalized a new voluntary redundancy scheme for thousands of workers, which has yet to be officially approved. And Vodafone was acquired by Spain’s Zegona fundWe agreed this week and Merger of Orange and MásMóvilThis regulation, planned for early 2024 with the permission of Brussels, raises fears among unions about a possible new wave of regulations.
Zegona is in no hurry to cut
After months of interviews with many interested candidates, vodafone confirmed a deal this Tuesday Sells Spanish subsidiary to British investment fund Zegona For 5,000 million euros. The financial group plans to follow its usual philosophy at Vodafone Spain in all its corporate acquisitions: buy, repair and sell. So Zegona plans to completely restructure the telecom company, get back on the profit-losing path, and resell the company partially or entirely for capital gains within a few years. It had already done this in the Spanish telecom sector with Telecable, which it sold to Euskaltel, and Euskaltel, which it sold to MásMóvil.
Zegona CEO Eamonn O’Hare has so far refrained from including the possibility of staff cuts in the list of adjustments he plans to implement at Vodafone Spain, but he has not ruled it out either. From bottom to top it simply states There are other ways to reduce costs besides cutting jobs. But fear has spread among employees of the Spanish telecom company that the change in ownership would mean a return to the layoffs carried out by the Vodafone group in previous years.
“The atmosphere in the team at the moment is worrying. After the ERE of previous years, the workforce is already very tight,” agree many inside the union sources, who hope that Zegona will limit itself to encouraging a change in strategy and reorganization of management without affecting the entire workforce. Vodafone Spain has already applied for four EREs in the last decade, resulting in around 3,000 workers leaving their jobs.The current workforce remains at approximately 3,900 employees. The unions do not hide their “huge concern” about the fact that the buyer was an opportunistic investment fund and not an industrial group, but they are trying to protect the fact that Zegona did not make workforce adjustments during its time at Telecable and Euskaltel.
Vodafone Group had already announced Intent to reduce global workforce by 11,000 departures in its subsidiaries worldwide. However, Spanish unions had received assurances that these cuts would not (at least specifically) affect Vodafone Spain and that these cuts would be concentrated in the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, India, Egypt and Hungary.
Unions of the Spanish subsidiary warn about this The priority is to negotiate a new collective agreement or re-extend the existing collective agreement, The extension expires on December 31. But given that Vodafone Spain’s current management only waited for a few months for the sale to Zegona to be completed in the first quarter of 2024, and the new management also keeps Zegona in charge, they now have difficulty negotiating anything. he will not assume command until then.
Orange-MM, no exit… for now
long awaited Merger of Orange Spain and MásMóvil He is waiting for approval from Brussels and knows what the conditions are (remedies) commands to give OkIt forces companies to get rid of some assets. The companies assume that approval from the European Commission will come before the end of the year and that they will be able to close the operation in the first quarter of 2024. The MásMóvil union is derailed because the conditions are too harsh. Vodafone Spain will be willing to continue merger talks with MásMóvil Moreover.
For now, it is accepted that the operation has been agreed upon and is being worked on in Brussels. And Orange is insisting on it now The union agreement with MásMóvil does not foresee any labor adjustments He noted that the annual synergies of €450 million expected from the third year after the merger were produced solely by economies of scale and industrial planning.
However, sources from the industry and unions assume that there will be cuts in the workforce to reorganize operations in the medium term in the wake of the Orange-MásMóvil union. Internal sources at the companies involved are also aware that the merged group will have the power to develop its own strategy and implement any future restructuring it considers, including possible layoffs.
“It is normal that possible workforce adjustments are not expressly included in the merger agreement. But it is undeniable that once the operation is closed, there will be excess equipment and the company will have the capacity to decide what to do,” union sources admit. “There are probably no short-term solutions, but employment adjustment needs will be one way or another depending on the solutions imposed by Brussels.” will happen.”
Telefónica retirement plan
Telephone prepare a new incentive furlough scheme Reducing staff in Spain. The company plans to formally inform unions next week about the implementation of a voluntary redundancy program for a maximum of 5,000 workers (although it is expected that 2,500 to 3,000 employees will leave). The new regulation, which is added to the previous three exit programs carried out in the group since 2016, will be part of the group’s new strategic plan for 2023-2026, which will be presented on November 8.
And a new labor regulation that comes amid a shareholder reshuffle at Telefónica The emergence of Saudi Arabia in its capital (with the aim of becoming the first shareholder with 9.9%) and the Government Rebuilding a new core team of Spanish partnerswith public company Sepi as white knight, will act as a counterweight to the new Saudi shareholder. Telefónica has not officially confirmed that it will activate the new voluntary leave program or its details, but this is considered normal inside and outside the company.
Telefónica Spain’s unions – still waiting for group management to call to inform them – are demanding that priority be given to negotiating a new collective agreement that has been in force for the same three years for which the new strategic plan was designed. The group aims to guarantee the working conditions of the workforce in the medium term between 2024-2026. Trade union organizations are demanding that all departures be voluntary if a new furlough scheme is implemented.
Telefónica implemented three plans for individual suspension of business relationships (PSI) has reduced its workforce in Spain by around 11,900 employees since 2016, at a cost to the group of around €6.8bn in payments to facilitate departures (payments up to 65 years old for workers leaving up to 68%). , Social Security premiums, as well as health insurance and retirement plan contributions).
In previous workforce adjustments, the age of the worker was valid as a key criterion for the offer of incentivized leave. Hereby, the company’s goal is to focus on the activities that will be automated or automated for the main reason for sick leave. The old copper network, which will be extinguished in the coming years, is planned to be closed definitively next April.