CGC slams unions for “unacceptable” pay demands
Spain’s Citrus Management Committee (CGC) has condemned a threat by agricultural unions in Valencia to call a strike in early December following the breakdown of talks on pay and working conditions.
The action centres on negotiations for the Collective Agreement for the Handling and Packaging of Citrus Fruits, which regulates the working conditions of more than 55,000 workers in the Valencian Community. Major differences separate the demands of the parties to the negotiations – the CGC, Federation of Agri-Food Cooperatives and the UGT and Comisiones Obreras unions.
The unions are demanding a salary increase of 11 per cent for all workers in the first year, followed by a 3 per cent annual increase for the next two years, together with a salary review clause and an additional 3 per cent for shift work. They also demanded that an overtime surcharge of 15 per cent be increased to 25 per cent.
The CGC describes these demands as “unacceptable”, pointing out that according to its calculations, this would mean some workers would see overtime pay go up by as much as 217 per cent, while ordinary pay increases would vary from between 14 per cent and 93 per cent.
For its part, the CGC is calling for the agreement to include the possibility of working on Saturdays and some holidays – which it considers to be “essential” in enabling Spain to compete with countries like Egypt, Morocco and South Africa where costs are lower. However, this has been rejected by the unions.
“Following the destruction of the DANA [floods] and after losing three weeks of harvesting due to the rains, the unions have already announced a strike for the first weeks of December, which is the peak of the citrus campaign. The unions do not want to negotiate, they have shown that they want to take advantage of the circumstances and weaknesses of the entire sector,” CGC said.
It warned that December is a “crucial” month in the citrus calendar, with important varieties like Navelina and Nules clementines coming on stream and preparations for the Christmas campaign underway.
“Going on strike at that time is irresponsible because it would mean losing a significant part of our production and handing over supplies to our competitors – Morocco for clementines/mandarins and Egypt for oranges – with labour and production costs up to ten times lower than ours,” CGC president Inmaculada Sanfeliu said.
