The majority of the Tubacex Works Council considers that the last offer of the management is acceptable. According to the agreement, the company will withdraw the appeal, recognising that there were no causes for redundancies, and employment and investments will be guaranteed until 2024 in exchange for a number of adjustments. The main points of these adjustments are that the current convention will be extended to 2025, but with 40 more hours of work and the wage freeze over the next 3 years. By 2025 they would return to the terms of the current convention.

ELA pointed out that "once the proposal has been analysed and evaluated in its entirety, we have considered it important not to propose provisional measures or to exclude forced redundancies in order to leave the final decision to the assembly of members".

The multinational formalised yesterday the appeal to the Madrid High Court of Justice against the ruling of the High Court of Justice of the Basque Country. The deadline for this procedure was yesterday. Tubacex has confirmed its intention to withdraw the appeal if workers accept the pre-agreement reached last Thursday.

On Friday, the unions will share the proposal with their affiliates to give the proposal "yes". If so, the strike, which lasts 232 days, will last until today.

In principle, if the workers accepted the offer, the parties would have to be joined next Monday to sign the document. After informing the Delegation of Labour of the withdrawal of the strike, they would return to their jobs on Tuesday, according to sources from the union.

At 16:00, the Basque Government’s Employment Department, workers’ representatives and the management of the multinational, met and the meeting was closed two hours later.

LAB does not sign the agreement

The LAB trade union has already issued a press release stating that it has not signed the proposed agreement. The agency considers that it makes no sense for a company with two ERTE in force to work 40 more hours a year and accuses the Basque Government of aligning itself with the company’s management.

In any case, LAB has also highlighted the positive aspects of the offer: "we mean that this initial agreement does not provide for any forced dismissal, and for LAB this victory is the result of the struggle and compromise between the Tubacex workforce and the unit of the Works Council and the Aiaraldea region and the workers of the Basque Country with whom we have been. After 7 months of fighting, the company has been forced to give up and give up redundancies. The management of Tubacex wanted to use a cyclical situation to dismiss the workers and, thanks to the struggle, these workers have been able to return to their jobs".

Thus, LAB will make its decision known at 16:00 on Friday, after a debate with the affiliates.

Discussion of the Independents

As long as the other trade unions vote, Independents will first discuss whether or not to do that. In fact, a member of the trade union commented on Aiaraldea Irratia: "We believe that all Tubacex workers should vote and decide whether the agreement is acceptable and not only those who are affiliated with the unions," he added.