Freixenet and unions agree to reduce working hours by 20-50% this year due to the drought

UGT and USOC value it positively

BARCELONA, 4 May. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Freixenet Group and the unions have agreed to start a regime of reducing working hours by 20% and 50%, for economic, technical and organizational or production reasons (ERTE ETOP) due to the lack of grapes and base wine due to the drought.

It will affect the employees of Freixenet S.A. and Segura Viudas S.A.U. from May 13 and "it is expected to last until December 31, 2024," the group reports this Saturday in a statement.

Freixenet has said that, in addition to the subsidy that those affected receive from the Public Administration, the Group "will compensate them with complementary aid. At the same time, it has also been agreed to protect certain groups, extra pay and vacations."

He has also stated that "the intensity of the measure will be adapted according to the time of year and the effects derived from the drought."

UGT

In another statement, the Federation of Industry, Construction and Agriculture of UGT (UGT FICA) has positively valued the agreement reached this Saturday because, among other points, "it guarantees the full collection of extraordinary payments as well as the full accrual of vacations." .

And he highlights that "a supplement on the unemployment benefit from the company that will be around 95% of the salary is guaranteed", regardless of the effects that workers may have according to the productive needs of each moment.

USOC

And in another statement this Saturday, the USOC union has evaluated the agreement very positively, "especially taking into account the speed and immediacy that the situation required."

He has said that the ERTE will affect "all workers, except for partial retirees and people with reduced hours, assuming a reduction in working hours between 20% and 50%."

For USOC, the agreement implies "economic and social improvements, and is in the same line as that agreed in the previous ERTE caused by Covid in 2020."

PEA ETOP

The Department of Business and Labor of the Generalitat rejected the ERTE that Freixenet presented at the beginning, not considering the drought as force majeure, and said that the company could negotiate with the unions an ordinary ERTE, an instrument that contemplates economic, technical, and organizational justifications. and productive.

The Group then responded that the lack of grapes and base wine caused by the drought forced it to "request an ERTE ETOP for economic, technical, organizational or production reasons."