On 23 January the management at Spanish utility company Endesa and the UGT, the majority union at the company, signed the company’s new collective agreement. The agreement, which should in principle put an end to more than two years of conflict (see article n°11455), was made possible after the intervention of an arbitrator who proposed a solution regarding the preferential electricity bill rates granted to the company's retired former employees. However, the CCOO union and the SIE, an independent energy sector union, have refused to sign up to the deal because the welfare benefits are being scaled down. That said, the unions have ratified the agreement on 1,000 voluntary departures, which arrive alongside the company’s efforts to tilt towards renewable energy as well as the closure of its thermal power plants. They have also ratified the wage agreement.
A reduced electricity bill for employees, but to a lesser extent than previously. The solution reached at the end of the arbitration process – required under the mandatory application arrangement – will grant more than 26,000 retired Endesa employees the right to a subsidised tariff for their electricity bills (with 6,000kWh free per year and 3,000kWh more at a special rate). They therefore retain a social benefit, but at a far lesser extent than they had enjoyed until now. While the UGT accept
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