The Diplomat
The trade unions CSIF, UGT and CC.OO. with representation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, issued a communiqué yesterday in which they reported on talks held with the head of the department, José Manuel Albares, on the demands of the workers at the Spanish Embassy in London, who have been on strike for 40 days.
The communiqué ended by stating that, after hearing the minister’s promises, the indefinite strike could be called off. However, the striking workers expressed, during an assembly that went on late into the night, their dissatisfaction with a note drawn up after a meeting in which they did not participate directly.
At 10 p.m. Spanish time, the strike had not been called off by the workers, despite the recommendation of the unions.
According to the statement from the unions, Albares yesterday presented them with a proposal for a wage increase of between 8 and 10% for staff working in foreign affairs offices in eight countries, starting with the UK.
On 14 March, the non-agreement staff working in Foreign Affairs offices in the United Kingdom began an indefinite strike to demand equal pay in view of the differences found between people in the same job and a pay rise to alleviate the consequences of Brexit. Last Wednesday they denounced before the European Parliament what they consider to be a violation of their labour rights.
Albares called yesterday the representatives of the three unions to inform them about the progress in the negotiations with the Ministry of Finance and Public Function, which would have accepted that the Executive Committee of the Interministerial Commission of Remuneration (CECIR) approve in the coming days the proposal for salary review raised by Foreign Affairs.
The proposal, as explained by CCOO, UGT and CSIF in the aforementioned communiqué, foresees a salary increase range of between 8 and 10 per cent in a total of eight countries, “although it will be approved first and urgently for the United Kingdom”.
In addition, according to the unions, Albares expressed his intention to extend this same action to the rest of his department’s representations abroad “in future phases”.
On the other hand, the Minister assured that the Foreign Office is continuing to take steps “at the highest level” to ensure that the UK’s overseas staff are included in the Spanish social security system, as they are demanding.
The workers in the UK complain of a loss of purchasing power as a result of the fact that their salaries have not been updated since 2008, while in the country there is an accumulated inflation rate of around 30%. In addition, they complain that after Brexit, the state has left them at the mercy of British social security, instead of Spanish social security, as provided for in European legislation.
According to them, a double salary scale is being applied, motivated only by the fact of the time of entry to the job, with the result that new recruits receive higher salaries than workers who have several years of experience in the same job.
In the communiqué, CCOO, CSIF and UGT welcome “positively” the commitment made by Albares, who has taken the opportunity to express “his willingness and that of his entire team to activate a comprehensive reform of the Foreign Service, with special attention to the conditions of the labour staff, abandoned to their fate for almost fifteen years”.
“The trade union organisations unanimously recognise the willingness shown by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the steps taken by this department and the imminent achievement of the most urgent objectives,” the text adds.
For all these reasons, they consider that “the indefinite strike in the UK can now be called off, while the remaining demands of this group and the dialogue with the Administration remain in force”.
