Spanish private waste contractors destroy jobs - Workers resist, indefinite strike

(15 November 2013) The Spanish private contractors FCC, OHL, CESPA (FERROVIAL), VALORIZA (SACYR-VALLE HERMOSO) have proposed to their street cleaners and gardeners in Madrid to accept to cut 1 in every 4 jobs (almost 1400 out of 6000). The remaining workers should accept a pay cut of 35 to 40%.

The workers and their unions including EPSU affiliates UGT-FSP and CCOO-FSP (private services) have refused this and called for an indefinite strike on 5 November. Rubbish is now piling up in the streets of Madrid. The unions and management of the companies are negotiating with so-called offers of the companies to dismiss somewhat less workers and to pay slightly lower salaries but make workers technically redundant 2 months per year (seeking corporate welfare from the state to pay their workers).

EPSU has sent messages to the companies in support of the unions. It is totally unacceptable that these companies, some of which are multinationals like FCC with contracts across the globe, seek to go after these jobs and offer workers with already low pay, poverty wages.

But while these negotiations are ongoing, the conservative party mayor wants to send in another company to break the strike. This company is a publicly owned company TRAGSA. It is deeply ironic that a public company is now called in to do the dirty job. EPSU has approached the President of TRAGSA not to allow his company to be used as a strike breaker. Workers have indicated that they might refuse to do this work and the unions have called for these street cleaning and gardening services to be remunicipalised.

Behind all this stands a conservative (PP) mayor intend on driving through a corporate programme hidden behind an ideological veil. She wants to turn public companies to the private sector like the water company Canal Isabel II, to open public services for more competition, and to allow private contractors to make higher profits.

The city removed clauses from the public contracts that defined the minimum number of workers needed and set quality standards thus at a very low level. The mayor Ms Ana María Botella Serrano, is demonising the workers in public statements. EPSU has sent her a message asking to do her job as city mayor, finding a solution, not to be a strike breaker.

The unions are seeking a negotiated settlement that respects the jobs and with decent pay and conditions.EPSU will continue to support them.
For more information:
- CCOO FSP press statement to the city council.



- Guardian newspaper article (UK)
- El Pais newspaper
- CCOO FSP press release from 13th condemning major for setting 48-hr ultimatum
- FSP-UGT press release (12 November)

More like this