Workers in the ITV network of the Valencian Community have not planned a strike for October 22. The unions UGT, CC OO, Intersindical and CSIF have postponed the protest after discussions, following a report from the Attorney General that received attention. The government, represented by the Ministry of Innovation, Industry and Tourism, had previously promised to collect the necessary documents and reports to support the implementation of the pay equalization agreement reached with the prior management of Sitval, the public company responsible for operating the ITV service.
The situation has been clearly voiced by both staff representatives and the Autonomous Administration. A new meeting was held this Wednesday to work toward a resolution of the dispute. As a result, the strike call has been postponed to November 6, with the expectation that the Generalitat will outline the next steps to be taken.
To recall, the central issue concerns the reversal of control of the ITV service, which was transferred to a new public entity, Sitval, in March. This transferred control occurred nearly two decades after the service had been privatized and passed through eight different concessionaires. In this setup, ITV workers perform the same tasks but receive different salaries depending on the specific concession they were employed by in the past.
A significant proportion of ITV staff in the province of Alicante has been affected, with many receiving the lowest pay levels. The executives who previously led the company under the Botànic Government had agreed to implement a salary equalization across the workforce, but this plan was not carried out.
With the arrival of the new Generalitat, staff representatives pressed for compliance with the wage equalization plan. The new leadership in the Industry department, however, questioned the validity of the agreement, arguing that the necessary reports and information had not been provided by other departments. The lack of documentation in this area was cited as a serious obstacle.
Consell refuses to enforce pay deal with ITV staff as he believes it is invalid
Following the initial meeting intended to unblock the stalemate, the Ministry of Innovation presented this Wednesday a report prepared by the Generalitat Lawyers’ Office. According to the department led by Nuria Montes, the pay agreement is considered invalid because its implementation was incomplete and the necessary documents were not produced in full. The report also notes that while the core idea is sound, the implementation still leaves room for completion. In other words, salary equalization can be applied once the legal requirements are fully met and the missing reports are produced.
Consequently, the Ministry has activated the required procedures to gather the remaining documents and advance the process of implementing the equalization, reaffirming the commitment to moving forward with the mechanism already in place.