2023-06-02 19:16:45
The working climate at Michelin Vitoria could not be more heated. With a strike just around the weekend, the union sensibilities of the workforce remain distant. This Friday CC OO (which together with UGT, CSIF and CCM has a majority with 15 of the 27 members of the committee) had called a meeting to try to delay the calendar of protests for a few days in “demand for a dignified agreement” scheduled by ELA, LAB, CGT and ESK (together they make up 12 of the 27 delegates). The first two centrals have not attended the meeting, while CGT and ESK have been against canceling the protests, also scheduled for Wednesday the 7th, Saturday the 10th and Monday the 12th.
«We find it disrespectful that they have not even presented themselves. We are not going on strike, we only ask that the deadlines for consulting our affiliates be respected and that the decision to call it be made jointly and within the committee. All together”, lamented Alberto Martín, president of the works council. While the members of the UGT have already shown their position in favor of starting protests, those of the CC OO will express their position on the 7th. Two days later, all the unions will meet at the negotiating table and make a decision on the offer of the company.
After this Friday’s plant, it is confirmed that the strikes will begin next Monday. ELA had already announced that it would not attend the meeting. In a statement they recalled that the proposal for the mobilizations “has already been voted on” and that “the union majority made its position clear.” «The committee has not called the mobilizations, so it cannot postpone or cancel them. Let the staff be the protagonist and we get an agreement where we recover purchasing power and guarantee the CPI in a real way, ”they argue from ELA.
Last Tuesday, the dissident centrals with the CC OO and UGT strategy called a massive demonstration that toured the center of Vitoria. The march was the starting signal for the calendar of mobilizations to protest against the situation in which the talks are to close a new agreement in the second most important factory in Álava. The idea is to persuade Michelin not to go beyond the “last” offer presented a few days ago, which proposed a 12% increase spread over the four years of the agreement: 5% in 2023, a 3% in 2024, 2% in 2025 and another 2% in 2026.
“An IPC with a trap”
The company’s proposal also included the possibility of raising salaries by 2% more every two years, but for that two conditions must be met. The first, that the CPI is higher in those two years than the salary offer: 8% in the case of the 2023-2024 biennium and 4% in the case of 2025-2026. The second, that the results of the company give of themselves to be able to undertake that salary increase.
It is this second condition that most annoys the central conveners of the mobilizations, which understand that this clause, which the CC OO and the UGT are studying, is “an IPC with a trap.” This is how Iker Pérez, ESK delegate on the committee of the Vitoria plant, has described it, “because it obeys objectives set by the company, which are not easy to achieve and which we cannot compare in any way”. At the demonstration, in fact, posters were seen with the motto ‘Salary guarantee yes or yes’, ‘IPC without cheating’ or ‘Reduction of the working day’.
However, the priority is to convince the company and to offer more to the staff. “The fact that it is the last offer will have to be seen after today and after the strikes,” says Arregi. If they do not take effect, the centrals themselves acknowledge that an analysis will be made, but the possibility of more strikes is not only on the table, but is, in fact, the most probable.
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