The indefinite strike at Cosentino has lasted less than 48 hours. This afternoon, a meeting was held between the company’s lawyer and members of the strike committee, which led to a verbal pre-agreement between the parties. Shortly after 8 p.m., the indefinite strike was officially called off.
According to union sources, the pre-agreement consists of maintaining the toxic/penalty bonus in the pay slips of all factory workers, whose elimination since January of this year to some 1,500 employees, was precisely the origin of the labour conflict and its subsequent call for an indefinite strike, the first in the history of the multinational based in Cantoria.
It is expected that in the next few hours, tomorrow, Friday or next Monday, the document that finally closes this conflict will be signed. A trade union mobilisation led only by UGT, a minority union in the Works Committee, but which managed to mobilise the majority of its colleagues and had a follow up of more than 75%.
These have been hours of tension, taking into account that the company described the call as “unfounded and false in its demands”, as they argued that “no right has been eliminated and no worker’s salary has been reduced. The full amount of the old toxic/harsh bonus has been added to the basic salary of all workers”, explained Cosentino spokesman Santiago Alfonso to La Comarca Noticias.
Union delegates, such as Juan Antolín, in statements to this newspaper, insisted that “it is not a question of money, it is a bonus that was consolidated and we want it to be reflected in our pay, we breathe the same toxics as the others”.
From now on, this toxic/poisonous bonus will return to the pay slips of all factory workers, as it has been reflected for years. “It is a great achievement that has been made possible by the courage of all the colleagues who have taken to the streets. Without their commitment, this would not have been possible,” adds Antolin, who does not hide his satisfaction.
Now we will have to see what happens with CCOO, the majority union in the Works Committee, which signed in December 2021 the elimination of this bonus in the paychecks of most of its colleagues. Even more so after their assessments in the last few hours in which they described the strike as “a disproportionate measure, based on arguments that are untrue and apparently with a clear purpose, such as their own benefit in relation to the next union elections scheduled for 17 March”.
