The negotiation of Telefónica’s ERE has raised its temperature by one degree in the first real discussion between the parties after the meetings to present documentation. The company has stated that, if there is not enough voluntariness, it will carry out forced dismissals, something that the union forces oppose.
If this possibility is consummated, it would be a paradigm shift with respect to the way that Telefónica has been dealing with staff cuts, which has always prioritized voluntariness and the maintenance of the so-called ‘social peace’ among the staff.
The company noted that It has a “surplus” of 5,124 employees at the beginning of the negotiations, which affect three companies (Telefónica España, Telefónica Móviles and Telefónica Soluciones), which total 16,000 workers, so the collective dismissal would affect a third of the workforce. In principle, the ERE is expected to affect those over 58 years of age, who would concentrate most of the departure.
The company justifies the procedure, among other reasons, due to the digital transformation and the new skills necessary for workers, as well as the shutdown of the copper network and the end of fiber deployment, which means that many employees located in These areas do not now have a role to play.
“UGT does not consider it acceptable that the result of robotization, automation and the use of AI tools results in job destruction and therefore does not share the proposed scope set at 5,124 jobs, nor the division made between areas and activities of the company affected or not, at the discretion of the company, by the collective dismissal”, point out from the union, one of the majority in Telefónica just CCOO y Sumados-Fetico.