ELA accuses Bilboestiba of forcing bankruptcy to reduce working conditions

Representation of the trade union ELA in the committee of Bilbao has confirmed that the decision of the four companies that make up the company to present bankruptcyfor lack of liquidityis only trying to “force” the unions to negotiation “down” of the agreement sector of Bizkaia to be able to “economy” on the working conditions of the 300 employees who make up the workforce.

During a performance at the union headquarters in Bilbao, the representatives of ELA, which has two of the 13 deputies on the committee, criticized the fact that the four companies that make up this company operating in the port of Bilbao (Bergé , Toro and Betolaza, CSP Iberian and SLP) filed for these insolvency proceedings due to lack of liquidity, while “dividends have been paid in recent years”.

Of ELA, they believe that the company, whose difficult economic situation is “clear”, forced this situation to “open a downward negotiation on the sectoral agreement of Bizkaia and thus be able to reduce the working conditions of its 300 employees. “.

In this regard, they recalled that Bilboestiba, which filed the application with the court earlier this week and has been in pre-competition since December 4, 2021, consists of the four companies mentioned, which simultaneously: ” shareholders and unique customers of Bilboestiba and so who decides what resources they contribute to the business”.

In 2020 he continues in his ELA complaint, dividends have been paid from 0.1 million between three companies to 19.8 million in 2019, something they consider “inadmissible” because “while the company Bilboestiba has losses, its partners pay the above-mentioned dividends.”

In this context, the negotiations on the collective labor agreement for the Stevedoring sector arrived, the table of which was set on February 3, 2021 and which ended without agreement in April.

The judiciary is thus set in motion, the first move of which should be the appointment of a trustee, which could happen next week.

According to ELA, since February and always, employers have “proposed regressive elements against the working conditions, referring to the economic situation of Bilboestiba without naming the companies that make up it.”

At this point, the latest employer proposal It has consisted of the salary adjustment brought about by the roadmap of Coordinadora, the main union with six works council representatives, which includes the dismissal of the stevedores as part of their salary between 2022 and 2024.

This economic cut, which could save Bilboestiba €850,000 a year over that three-year period, pleases the companies, but is a difficult measure for the unions to accept. From 2025, with a healthy financial situation, Bilboestiba would be willing to take on significant increases.

To compensate for this cutback until 2024, the UGT (with three union representatives) has sought in the agreement to include in the agreement some kind of commitment to tie the permanent workforce to the nearly 100 temporary workers who have been working in the port for the ETT for years. -route. But this is a door that has always been kept closed by Bilboestiba, which calls for future agreements with each company depending on the workload. At the moment it does not appear that the ultimate parties will enter into the agreement through the agreement, which jeopardizes the position of UGT.

According to ELA, the real claim of the companies is that “the staff accept regressive terms while the shareholders pay the above-mentioned dividends.”