“Saying “no” to Mercedes’s pre-agreement would be the beginning of the end”
- Emilio Titos linked the future of the plant with the approval of the pre-agreement signed by workers, employers and some unions in the referendum on Monday. Most workers are opposed to the pre-agreement. Urkullu and Tapia praised the preagreement.
On Monday, the pre-agreement signed by the management with the trade unions UGT, CCOO, Ekintza and PIM will be voted on in referendum. Emilio Titos, director of Mercedes in Vitoria-Gasteiz, in an interview held in Euskadi Radio, states that the preagreement would guarantee the “future” of the plant, while not accepting it would be “the beginning of the end” of it. He points out that he cannot “even imagine” the negative. According to the director of Mercedes, the company has made “a great effort” to achieve the agreement principle and considers that the agreed wage increase is “remarkable”.
Workers against
On Wednesday, the day after the signing of the pre-agreement, the massive monitoring of the strike convened by the unions ELA, LAB and ESK (95% according to the convening unions, 75-80% according to the company) clearly states that most workers are against the principle of agreement. At the assembly on the same day, hundreds of workers have met and decided to extend the strike to Thursday and Friday. The workers have managed to get the company to give up its sixth shift, and now the main demand is that the wage increase be linked to the CPI.
The Government, for
On Wednesday, lehendakari Iñigo Urkullu and counsellor Arantxa Tapia also made statements, increasing pressure on workers. Both have defended the principle of agreement. Urkullu has expressed his “congratulations” and Tapia has assured that “the two sides have made a great effort” to move from their positions and reach agreements.
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