Telefónica and the unions reached an agreement yesterday on the company's first Employment Regulation File (ERO) since 2015 and also on the new collective agreement. The first will serve to cut the workforce by 3,421 workers, 20% of the total. The second will make the company the first, among the large corporations in Spain, to apply the 36-hour working week.
The agreed terms are only awaiting ratification in the obligatory consultations with the workers, in which no surprises are expected. As for the working week, it is now 37.5 hours, which will be cut at a rate of 30 minutes per year until 2026. The company was already a pioneer in its time of the four-day week, which did not have much acceptance, as it entailed salary cuts in the same proportion.
The agreement will also include salary increases of 1.5% for three years, but there will be no loss of purchasing power because at the end of the period of validity, in 2026, there will be an upward revision to match the increases to that of the cumulative CPI.
The ERO and the agreement were agreed just two days after the Spanish Government ordered SEPI to purchase up to 10% of Telefónica, in an operation that will allow the formation of a shareholder core that guarantees the Spanish core of the company. In an interview with RAC1, the president of the central government, Pedro Sánchez, said yesterday that the company is "strategic" and that the markets "understand" the operation.
Between announcements of workforce cuts and expectations surrounding the entry of SEPI, Telefónica shares closed yesterday's session with a fall of 1.52%. The company is now capitalized at 20,830 million euros, 330 million more than before the decision of the Executive was known.
The figure agreed for the ERO implies a lower cut of 1,713 workers than initially planned, that is to say, 30% less. Like the rest of the measures, the employment file must be ratified before January 4 in consultations with the workforce of the affected subsidiaries, which are Telefónica España, Telefónica Móviles and Telefónica Soluciones de Informática i Comunicación. Between all three they employ 16,000 people.
After a last-minute tweak in the third of these subsidiaries, the final breakdown is 2,958 affected at Telefónica España, 397 affected at Telefónica Móviles and 66 at Telefónica Soluciones.
The exit plan has been designed for those born in 1968 or earlier, who will be paid up to 68% of their salary throughout the rest of their working life, apart from a voluntary bonus of 10,000 euros Compensation drops when you turn 63.
After the foreseeable ratification by the workers, a subscription period will open between January 9 and February 8 to which the company will give an answer on February 14 so that the last day of that month takes place most of the departures. The ERO will remain open until March 31, 2025.
The unions consider that the company has been improving the conditions until they are equal to the previous exit plan, that of 2021. They assume that they have cushioned a bigger blow and congratulate themselves for having taken measures such as now the possibility that, in the event of the death of the worker included in the ERO, the legal heirs can continue to receive the pending compensation.
The worker will also be paid part of the Social Security costs and will continue to be covered by the company's medical insurance at least until the age of 63.
Telefónica has also undertaken a commitment to create jobs equivalent to 7% of those affected by the ERO, which is equivalent to 240 workers. The 100 employees who could not leave in the previous voluntary exit plan will also leave.
The aim of the plan, Telefónica indicates, is to "adapt" the different subsidiaries to the "demanding process of transformation and adaptation required by the new digital era".
