At the meeting held on 20 September, the delegate of the Department of Employment and Labour of the Basque Government forwarded to the management and to the workers’ committee a proposal to end the Tubacex labour dispute. Days later, on Thursday, the three parties met to deepen this proposal, which workers have reported, has been amended by the Basque Government, which has not submitted any allegations.

“It includes forced dismissals and the possibility of economic adjustments in 2021, although the initial proposal did not provide for such a period,” the Committee’s note states. Thus, they consider that the government “has given in to the pressures of the company and this leads us not to accept the proposal”.

Tubacex workers have been on strike for 225 days in protest at the redundancies and in defence of their jobs. The management of the multinational company has reiterated that it has tried to reduce the number of forced redundancies from a total of 129 to 95. At the same time, however, it has called on workers to stay at work to include more hours, that is to say, to take on this reduction in jobs.

The High Court of Justice of the Basque Country (TSJPV) has ruled that the dismissals in Tubacex are illegal, although the company has still banned the return to work and has appealed the judgment. In this context, and following the police persecution of workers during the protests, the new possibility of negotiation has come.

“When we start to see the light across the tunnel, they don’t want a solution,” the workers said. According to the ELA trade union, this time the company has "missed" the opportunity to resolve the labor dispute.