Spain: the building-materials company Holcim signs Equal Opportunity Plan with unions

The decline of the Spanish construction sector is pronounced at present. The sector has been particularly afflicted by the economic crisis and the 2008 collapse of the housing bubble. According to the Spanish Ministry of Promotion, in terms of employment, the total unemployment rate in the construction sector increased 17.82 percentage points--from 6.39% to 24.21%--between 2007 and 2011. (www.fomento.es). Despite this scenario, HOLCIM Spain was open to the arguments made by FECOMA-CCOO and MCA-UGT (respectively, the construction branches of the two major trade unions at the national level: the CCOO, or Workers Commissions Union, and the UGT, or General Union of Workers), and subsequently agreed to implement this plan, which aims to achieve effective equal opportunities for women and men in employment. The plan applies to the staff of all operations from the Spanish HOLCIM group and concerns both direct and indirect discrimination. On the basis of the main findings from a study conducted within the firm, the plan comprises varied measurable targets which address all business areas: (1) recruitment and selection (2) career development and promotion, (3) wage and salary policies, (4) training, (5) health and safety, (6) work-family reconciliation policies, (7) prevention of sexual and gender harassment and mobbing, (8) raising awareness of Equal Opportunities between women and men and boosting an Equal Opportunities culture. Notably, aside from an internal procedure to support victims of domestic violence in accordance with Spanish Law 1/2004, the plan includes an action protocol for resolving grievances involving sexual, gender and moral harassment.