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1 April, 2001To underline their demands for job protection and back wages, Sintel workers have set up tents in the Spanish capital's financial district.
SPAIN: Workers at Sintel and their trade unions -- the FM/CC.OO. and the MCA-UGT -- are involved in a difficult struggle to safeguard wages and jobs. The company, specialised in the installation of telephone lines, has not paid wages for eight months and has threatened its workforce with mass dismissals.
Two years ago, when the Spanish national telephone company, Telephonica, was privatised, it proceeded to divest itself of a number of companies, such as the service company Sintel. When Sintel was sold to exiled Cubans living in the U.S., Telephonica failed to stipulate necessary conditions which guarantee jobs and wage protection. According to the European Metalworkers' Federation, Sintel's current problems are neither economic nor industrial, but based on "political and unclear financial reasons".
The workers and the unions are now putting their demands for job protection and payment of back wages to the government and Telephonica, which they hold as co-responsible for the situation. To draw attention to their claims, the 1,800 Sintel workers have built a campsite on the main thoroughfare of Madrid -- Castellana Avenue, the city's central financial district, where 1,500 have been living in tents for the last two months. In addition, approximately 450 women, who either work at Sintel or are wives of workers, have been residing inside Madrid Cathedral for the past month. Workers are holding daily demonstrations, and the population at large is supporting them, with up to 25,000 people participating in the major demonstrations.
The EMF says that the situation the Sintel workers are experiencing "is inadmissible within the actual European Union context, with theoretically clear democratic and social rights." The Federation has called on the Spanish government to take action and push Telefonica to find a quick and positive solution.
Two years ago, when the Spanish national telephone company, Telephonica, was privatised, it proceeded to divest itself of a number of companies, such as the service company Sintel. When Sintel was sold to exiled Cubans living in the U.S., Telephonica failed to stipulate necessary conditions which guarantee jobs and wage protection. According to the European Metalworkers' Federation, Sintel's current problems are neither economic nor industrial, but based on "political and unclear financial reasons".
The workers and the unions are now putting their demands for job protection and payment of back wages to the government and Telephonica, which they hold as co-responsible for the situation. To draw attention to their claims, the 1,800 Sintel workers have built a campsite on the main thoroughfare of Madrid -- Castellana Avenue, the city's central financial district, where 1,500 have been living in tents for the last two months. In addition, approximately 450 women, who either work at Sintel or are wives of workers, have been residing inside Madrid Cathedral for the past month. Workers are holding daily demonstrations, and the population at large is supporting them, with up to 25,000 people participating in the major demonstrations.
The EMF says that the situation the Sintel workers are experiencing "is inadmissible within the actual European Union context, with theoretically clear democratic and social rights." The Federation has called on the Spanish government to take action and push Telefonica to find a quick and positive solution.