A marathon meeting, lasting 15 hours, ended four days into the early hours of this summer with a warning that allowed us to cancel the planned losses in the metals sector during the coming days of December 3 and 10 in Barcelona. The CC OO and UGT unions have agreed with the employer UPM on the principle of agreement that opens the Barcelona Province Steel and Metallurgy Agreement, which is awaiting renewal and affects 200,000 workers. The sector reached the wall within two days at the end of last October, with a movement that put pressure on the negotiations, before the possibility of it repeating this situation ended. The new agreement, which will be confirmed, will be valid for three years, during which salaries will increase by 10%.
After a large mediation meeting at the Ministry of Labor headquarters, the unions expressed positive appreciation for the progress that allowed the planned suspensions to be cancelled. In a statement, the CC OO Industry Department highlighted that the principle of the agreement “will allow the sector to improve salaries, rights and working conditions.” Now the agreement will have to be ratified in the councils of union delegates.
To a large extent, the principle of agreement provides for various improvements to this agreement that is awaiting renewal. The first is the best salary. The agreement will run between 2025 and 2027. In the first year, retroactive to the first year, profits will rise by 4%, in the second year by 3%, and in the third year by another 3%. The total increase will be 10%. Furthermore, a salary guarantee clause was agreed to compensate for 100% of the annual IPC, “without limits, which ensures no loss of purchasing power,” CC OO says in the statement.
The agreement also stipulates that during the holidays the usual bonuses and incentives will be paid. Specifically, one of the most important contradictions that hindered dialogue between unions and employers is that the sector’s companies wanted the agreed-upon salary increases to accommodate and compensate for the expected positives and complements. Finally, the unions were able to impose their demands in this sense.
The precautionary measure also includes improvements and shields with regard to occupational health and risk prevention, and provides for reducing the annual working day to eight hours. Therefore, the journey rises from the current 1,750 annual hours to 1,742 hours in 2027. Other improvements have also been recognized regarding permissions or protection measures against sexual violence, among other issues.