Bilbao (EFE).- The unions LAB, UGT, CCOO and ESK have signed the pre-agreement on labor improvements reached with the companies that provide cleaning services in Osakidetza.
The plants have attributed their achievement to the “fight” of the workers, who have celebrated it with shouts of joy and hugs.
This is what dozens of workers have done that have gathered during the morning before the headquarters of the Basque Government in Bilbao.
Inside it, representatives of the aforementioned unions, which make up the union majority in the sector, and of the companies met.
Pre-agreement endorsed
At the meeting, the preliminary agreement reached by the parties at the end of June with the mediation of the Department of Employment of the autonomous Executive was endorsed.
The preliminary agreement has not been signed by ELA.
Its content recognizes and “shields” the homologation of the working conditions of these workers with respect to Osakidetza’s own personnel, according to the signatories.
His signature marks the end of a labor conflict that has lasted for several months, which has added up to a hundred days of strikes and mobilizations.
The conflict has affected some 2,500 workers who operate in the sector.
The workers celebrate
While the parties proceeded to close the pre-agreement, the workers gathered before the headquarters of the Basque Government in Bilbao have shouted protests.
“Borroka da bide bakarra” (fighting is the only way), “jo ta ke irabazi arte” (give until you win), “ari, ari, ari, let the lehendakari clean up”, were some.
After almost three hours of meeting, the union representatives have been received by the workers with shouts of joy, congratulations and spilled cava.
The representative of UGT Javier Luengo has highlighted the agreement “the shielding of the homologation” of working conditions.
As he explained, what was agreed includes the full maintenance of the homologation in working conditions, including the salary increase and the maintenance of the professional career.
It also includes the relief contract, as well as the opening of vacancies for outpatient staff.
Now the pre-agreement must be endorsed by the workers’ assemblies.
ALS does not sign
Afterwards, the parties are expected to proceed to the signing of the definitive agreement in the Labor Relations Council.
Among the signatories of the pre-agreement, the ELA union has not been, which considers that its content “brings cuts.”
As specified in a note, the signatories have agreed to the 3-year subscription to the professional career (2021, 2022 and 2023).
They have left out the subscription for the other three years pending payment (2012, 2019 and 2020) and have linked the future of the career to the next calls for Osakidetza’s own staff, he has criticized.
ELA, which has alone promoted a strike in the sector that has lasted for 136 days, has considered the attitude of the other unions “inconsistent”.
In his opinion, it is “inconsistent that the unions that throughout the conflict have defended the homologation accept a three-year cut.”
He has also opined that with his actions, the Basque Government “has consolidated its policy of cuts in outsourced cleaning”.
As he has lamented, he treats his workers “as second-class workers and reduces their right to collect all the annuities of the professional career.” EFE