Pre-agreement for some, strike action for others. At the very time when the UGT was announcing it had concluded a pre-agreement with the employers’ bodies over the textile sector’s collective agreement that will last for the next three years, the CCOO union refused to join the pact and maintained its call for strike action on 19 July by 90,000 employees in the sector. The employers’ bodies called the work stoppage insignificant, although the CCOO estimated it had secured a 70% turnout. Notwithstanding, this event does underline the discord between both major union forces over the issue of salary increases with the CCOO continuing to call for greater wage rises in order to compensate for the losses in earnings sustained during the crisis years.
The pre-agreement ratified by the UGT on the textile sector’s new collective agreement intends for annual wage rises of 2% in 2018 and 2019 and 1.8% for 2020, with scope for further inflation-indexed salary rises of up to 0.5%, as well as a significant 3% annual rise in the lowest salaries. The UGT is also pushing for fresh conciliation measures and better working time arrangements for employees, as well as 21 days of guaranteed summer holiday leave.
However these measures are clearly insufficie
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