The employees affiliated with the unions CGT, UGT, and ÚTIL at Airbus Spain are called this Monday to vote on whether to halt the indefinite strike planned for tomorrow Tuesday and choose to continue with the negotiation of the company's latest proposal, which includes, among other measures, a salary increase linked to the CPI and the withdrawal of a resource before the Supreme Court related to the control of absenteeism.
Last Friday, August 21, a new mediation session took place at SIMA in which several aspects of the document sent by the manufacturer two days earlier were clarified, and a schedule of meetings was outlined in case the consultation with the workforce does not progress.
Despite this approach, the three union organizations maintain a three-hour strike today at the Spanish plants, which will serve as a prelude to the assemblies in which the strategy to be followed in the labor conflict will be debated and decided.
"We will take advantage of the assemblies to explain these positions in detail and decide together on the actions to be taken, both in response to the mediators' request and in order to achieve our objectives," UGT indicated in a statement.
According to the minutes of the mediation from Friday, which Europa Press has accessed, the management of Airbus and the unions agreed to immediately activate a contact schedule, with a first meeting set for tomorrow at SIMA-FSP and a daily frequency, unless both parties agree on another cadence.
The mediators have also suggested to the strike organizers that they postpone its start until the negotiation period committed between the company and social representation expires.
From the aerospace company, they emphasized when presenting the new text that "this is a new stage of negotiation towards the future and ensures the social peace essential for developing a real and effective negotiation process to reach a solution."
The company has also expressed that it values "positively" any gesture that implies an approach between the parties and that allows "a constructive dialogue to reach a common understanding."
Key commitments in Airbus's offer
Among the central elements of the new proposal, Airbus proposes not only the guarantee of salary increases in line with the CPI, but also an extra percentage to recover the lost purchasing power in a shorter period than what has been managed so far, the specific details of which will be negotiated in the coming weeks.
Regarding absenteeism, the company commits to withdraw the appeal filed before the Supreme Court against the ruling in favor of UGT regarding the payment regime of IT and, consequently, to return the amounts deducted from the staff in the first payroll in which it is operationally possible.
With respect to teleworking, the company proposes to return to the scenario in force before the start of the conflict, without additional changes, and to maintain the individual agreements signed to date.
In addition to these three axes, issues such as the vacation regime, the dining service, collective transportation and its routes, flexible hours, employment guarantees linked to the Bromo project, specific agreements in Cádiz, and job catalogs have been included at the table, areas in which Airbus declares itself willing to sustain or open negotiation processes.
The general secretary of UGT at Airbus, Edmundo Otero, considers that the degree of progress on some sections "is far from what a framework should be to have an agreement that is endorsed by the workers of Airbus".
He has also emphasized that there are other topics that remain "open to pure negotiation", pointing out that, although the company agrees to discuss the recovery of purchasing power, it does not specify "how much time and in what amount".
Mediation in the SIMA and evolution of the conflict
After the cancellation of the strike in July, following the rejection of the pre-agreement sealed with Sipa, CCOO, and ATP, and once normality was restored in the workplaces of Airbus Spain, the multinational opted to seek professional mediation in the SIMA to try to bring positions closer and unlock the labor dispute opened in the country.
In this context, the company hired the services of the law firm Baker Mckenzie and announced a change in its Human Resources leadership in Spain, with the appointment of Soledad Muñoz in place of Antonio Lasada, who had been in charge of this area at the national level for more than 10 years.
After three mediation sessions, to which CGT, UGT, and ÚTIL stopped attending in the last two, and in the face of an indefinite strike scenario, Airbus presented at the SIMA, and simultaneously to the representation of the workers, a "Proposal for Dialogue and Social Peace" that includes the main points already mentioned on which the company is open to continue dialoguing and negotiating.
"The shared challenge is to jointly define a balance that guarantees this recovery without compromising Airbus's competitiveness in Spain or harming individual increases or promotions," he added last week in a statement addressed to the workers.