The Zegona Foundation begins its activities in the recently acquired Vodafone Spain with scissors of job cuts in hand. The owner operator said the Employment Regulation File (ERE) would initially affect 1,198 employees, more than a third of the company, as of May 31 last year. Specifically, 36.7% of organizations with 3,268 payrolls. According to company sources, the adjustments to working conditions are intended to “ensure the viability and competitiveness of the business in the future.”
As is mandatory in this type of action, the company informed the union representatives about the start of the collective dismissal procedure, which will activate the creation of the corresponding negotiation table within a maximum of 15 days, that is, until the next June 17th. .
According to the company, this initiative arises “from the belief that this is the only formula that will guarantee the viability and competitiveness of the company in the future, and is approached with a responsible and open attitude on the part of the operator and with a desire to achieve the best agreement for all parties.
The decision to initiate this adjustment is due to “economic, operational and organizational reasons” related to the “severe financial and commercial deterioration of the situation.” In fact, the red operator has reduced its total revenue by 8% since 2022 and lost about 400,000 contract customers over the same period.
Likewise, new property The broadcaster considers it “urgent” to make “organizational and operational changes to resize the organization.” adapt to the new market reality and regain competitiveness.” On the other hand, the company makes it clear that “this collective dismissal procedure will not affect the quality of service or the support provided to customers.”
According to Zegona’s latest corporate report, the company has already warned its shareholders and investors that Vodafone Spain has a high staff cost structure compared to other companies in the sector. As elEconomista reported late last year, before the latest job cuts at Telefonica Spain, the 20,947 employees the operator had hired at the end of 2023 was almost double the number of workers at its three main rivals, Orange Spain (5,240). , Vodafone Spain (then 4,024 people) and Grupo MásMóvil (1,800 people), not counting Avatel’s 3,000 employees, so that the total number of employees of the four companies reached 14,000 specialists.
Taking all of the above into account, the maximum adjustment of 1,198 positions at Vodafone Spain will be added to the 3,421 positions at Telefonica España, Telefonica Móviles España and Telefónica Soluciones, which together with the 674 positions at Avatel gives a figure of 5,293 employees. The workforce of the main operators in 2023 will therefore be 37% lower than expected after Vodafone Spain’s adjustment.
Union reaction
UGT sources complained that “once again your gluttonymanagement is unable to find real solutions to the real problems that plague Vodafone Spain and the inaction of the administration, which did not ask for any job security when approving the sale of Vodafone Spain to Zegona.”
The same trade union center notes that the case of Vodafone Spain “will be studied at economic faculties as an example of how bad management can waste a company’s value which has become a world leader among telecommunications operators.” … led the group to a breakup situation similar to the one we are experiencing.”
From The UTS union also rejects ERE on Vodafone Spain, clarifying that “the viability of the company depends on the preservation of jobs,” to demand full voluntary redundancies as the only response to the ERE.
Settings in Avatel and Telefonica
Vodafone’s upcoming adjustment is announced a week after operator Avatel closed its workforce adjustment of 674 staff, down 21% from the 849 initially planned. In your case, the contract was drawn up with compensation conditions for 33 days worked per year, with a maximum monthly payment of 24. The same company established that people who voluntarily resigned will be paid additional compensation in the amount of two days worked per year (35 days), as well as a one-time bonus in the amount of 1200 euros.
At the beginning of the year, Telefonica Spain agreed with the unions on ERE for 3,421 workers with the following distribution: 2,958 layoffs are at Telefonica de España, almost 28% less than the 4,085 that were proposed at the beginning of the negotiations; 397 departures in Telefonica Móviles, down almost 59% from the original 958, and 66 regulated in Telefonica Soluciones, down almost 19% from the original 81.