The Popular Party (PP) has intensified its pressure on the government as a result of the Employment Regulation File (ERE) that Telefónica is negotiating with the unions, an amendment that in its initial approach is expected to affect about 6,000 employees, about 24% of the workforce. Given the perceived “inaction of the executive branch,” the PP took a step forward by requesting that the operator’s head, Marc Murtra, appear before Congress’ Joint National Security Committee.
The official reason for this request is for Mortra to provide details of Telefonica’s new strategic plan for 2026-2030, a roadmap that popular people consider “of national security importance.” This plan, which was presented on November 4, includes an ambitious efficiency program through which the company seeks to reduce costs by 2,300 million euros by 2028 and reach savings worth 3,000 million euros by the end of the decade. As part of this adjustment, the company also plans to halve its dividend per share by 2026, leaving it at €0.15 per share, and apply the ERE to seven companies in the group, the final number of those affected will be finalized after negotiation.
Aside from the request to appear, submitted by ABC, The People’s Party has registered a set of parliamentary questions addressed to the government to answer in writing. These questions revolve around mass dismissal, seeking to reopen the cracks in the government coalition due to the conflicting positions that emerged within it.
While the socialist part of the executive remained on the sidelines, claiming that 10% state participation through the State Society of Industrial Shares (SEPI) was insufficient to influence the administration, the second vice president and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, broke the silence when she described the labor regulation law as “inappropriate.” Diaz publicly stated on November 25: “We do not agree at all that a company that makes profits and invests public resources fires thousands of workers.” The Minister sent a letter to the head of SEPI to show her refusal.
The PP addresses Diaz directly to ask “what specific measures” his administration has implemented to avoid workforce reductions. In addition, they demand to know whether the government has instructed the advisor who represents it on the Telefónica board, Carlos Ocaña, to take a position against the dismissals. This attack seeks to point to the “shared responsibility” of the executive for its inaction in a context where the state is a relevant shareholder, the proportion of which was decisive, for example, in the replacement of José María Álvarez Ballete with Marc Murtra in the presidency last January.
The set of questions concludes with a question about the cohesion of executive power: “How can a mass dismissal of thousands of workers be proposed in a company whose board of directors belongs to the same government that says the Spanish economy is moving at rocket speed?”