Unions denounce the termination of employment contracts at the Spanish Embassy in Moscow “without prior negotiation”

Eduardo González The unions have denounced the decision by the General State Administration to terminate the contracts of the staff at the Ministry of Agriculture in Moscow, attached to the Spanish Embassy, “without any real prior negotiation process with the workers' representatives.” This was communicated at the end of March to the CCOO, CSIF, and UGT unions during the meeting of the Technical Commission for Staff Abroad (CTPLEX), which addressed, among other issues, the closure of various Ministry of Agriculture offices and attachés abroad. During the meeting, the CTPLEX reported on “the particularly serious situation at the Ministry in Moscow, where the termination of staff contracts has been announced without any real prior negotiation process with the workers' representatives,” as the three unions stated in a joint press release. “The three trade unions have denounced this procedure as a violation of Article 2.3.1 of the PLEX Working Conditions Agreement and a break with established practices of many years, in which closure processes were addressed through prior negotiation, exploring relocation alternatives within the country or region, with the aim of protecting the affected staff,” they warned. “We believe that what has happened in this case sets a very negative precedent that cannot be repeated, and we have demanded that all necessary measures be taken to guarantee the maximum possible protection for those affected,” they added. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has a network of attachés abroad responsible for exercising, from the Embassies, the institutional and technical powers of the Department headed by Luis Planas. Recently, the Ministry restructured these attachés to adapt to emerging economies and improve the efficiency of resource use. The Spanish Embassy in Moscow had an Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food Office whose work has inevitably been affected by the deterioration of institutional relations between Spain and Russia at all levels, including the economic sphere, as a consequence of Vladimir Putin's regime's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Before the imposition of international sanctions on Moscow, more than 50 percent of Spanish investments in Russia were concentrated in the agribusiness sector. In August 2014, the European Union banned the export of certain foodstuffs (meat, dairy, fish, and plant products, fruits, and vegetables, etc.) to Russia as a result of the first Russian invasion, but this ban has been extended until December 31, 2026, within the framework of the current conflict. Furthermore, agri-food imports from Russia to Spain fell sharply in 2024, from 8.9 to 1.2 percent of total Spanish imports from that country.

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