Talks aimed at averting a planned strike by citrus industry workers in the Spanish region of Valencia have failed, it has emerged.
According to a joint statement issued by Valencia's regional Federation of Agrarian Industry Workers and its General Union of Workers, backed by the trade union confederation CCOO, Valencian citrus pickers will take strike action from 28 November.
The move follows the groups' apparently unsuccessful attempts to reach agreement with the industry on issues relating in particular to the employment of temporary workers, who tend to be paid around 40 per cent less than permanent employees.
The unions have rejected the industry's latest pay proposal, which had put forward a 1.5 per cent annual increase in pay for the region's citrus harvesters up until the end of August 2012.
It remains unclear how long the proposed strike action will last.
