UGT has confirmed that the indefinite strike at the public company Sóller 2010 will begin on Monday, July 20 at 10 PM, after negotiations at the Tamib failed. The union is calling for a protest on Saturday in the Plaza de la Constitución.
The labour conflict at the municipal Sóller 2010 is escalating. UGT announced this Friday that it will maintain the planned indefinite strike, which will start next Monday, July 20 at 10:00 PM. The decision comes after negotiations at the Tamib failed to bring the union and management closer together.
Pre-mobilisation and growing discontent
As a precursor to the strike, the union has called for a protest this Saturday at 10:00 AM in the Plaza de la Constitución in Sóller. The mobilization aims to highlight the discontent of the staff, who are denouncing an “unsustainable” situation at the public company.
In a statement, UGT explained that the protest “is being held to ensure that the management of Sóller 2010 stops blocking collective bargaining and ceases its attempts to cut staff rights and threaten the privatisation of the public company.”
80 workers called to strike
About 80 people who work in the nursery, waste collection, street cleaning, the ORA service, the express works brigade, and the sports centre are called to support the strike. The strike will affect multiple essential services for the municipality.
The union had already accused management of turning Sóller 2010 into “an ungovernable entity by its own will,” more focused on “manipulating the citizens” than on resolving the conflict. The organisational situation, according to UGT, is “unsustainable.”
Criticism of management and mutual accusations
One of the most striking complaints from UGT is that the head of the waste collection and street cleaning service has gone on holiday in the middle of July, coinciding with 30% of the staff being on sick leave. The union believes that leaving the service with a third of the personnel “evidences a malicious maneuver to degrade the cleanliness of the municipality and justify a future privatisation.” However, the company has claimed that these accusations are “false.”
UGT also accuses management of lying by claiming that it has incorporated the workers' demands. According to the union, “it is the management that has put forward a new and abusive demand” aimed at “cutting economic rights recognised for the officials” that had already been signed by the City Council and the company.
Conditions to avoid the strike
The union asserts that the way to avoid the indefinite strike on the 20th is through a binding agreement that guarantees maintaining the remuneration for public holidays as it has been paid for over ten years, accepting the climate emergency protocol to protect the health of the workers, renouncing any subcontracting or privatisation of public services, and correcting the shortcomings of the agreement, with its subsequent publication in the BOIB.
So far, the management of Sóller 2010 has not made any statements regarding these conditions. The residents of Sóller are facing a potential disruption of key services such as waste collection and street cleaning, right in the middle of the tourist season. The strike, unless a last-minute agreement is reached, will begin on Monday night and has no end date.
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