This Monday, Telefónica communicated to the three main unions with the greatest representation in the company (UGT, CC OO and Sumados-Fetico) its intention to implement the subsidiaries Telefónica de España, Telefónica Móviles, Telefónica Soluciones, Telefónica, Telefónica Global Solutions, Telefónica Innovación Digital and Movistar+. The company has not estimated the scope of the adjustment that will be finalized in the next meetings on November 24 and 25, when the negotiating committees are formed. Sources familiar with the process indicate that the exit figure will be between 6,000 to 7,000 workers, although the number of those affected will be significantly reduced during the negotiations.
Once established, management and worker representatives will have a period of 30 days to negotiate both the final number of layoffs and the economic conditions of the departures. If the maximum deadlines are exhausted, the agreement can be signed before the end of this year, as the company intends in order to allocate the cost of the ERE in the accounts for the year 2025.
The workers’ representatives have demanded that, in parallel with the negotiation of the ERE, the tables of all collective agreements be opened immediately, and have demanded a minimum validity of them until 2030 to guarantee job stability, and in coherence with the duration of the Strategic Plan Transform & Grow which extends from 2026 to 2030.
The unions rule out partial agreements in each of the affected subsidiaries and emphasize that they will not support any ERE in the Telefónica group without ensuring the future of all workers who remain in the company, which includes the aforementioned extension of the different agreements until 2030.
The union forces insist that voluntariness must be the essential condition in any exit process and have indicated as the goal of the negotiation to equalize or improve the conditions of the ERE agreed in 2024, which led to the departure of 3,421 workers through early retirement and incentivized sick leave.
Union demands
Along these lines, UGT has conveyed to the different directorates its rejection of these new plans, “which once again resort to staff reduction as a means of organizational adjustment.” “We have also demanded the immediate opening of the negotiation tables for all collective agreements, demanding a minimum validity until 2030 to guarantee stability, and in coherence with the company’s Strategic Plan and protection of labor rights,” he said in a statement.
“Voluntariness must be the central axis of any exit process and points as a reference to the model agreed in 2024 for Telefónica de España, Telefónica Móviles and Telefónica Soluciones,” added UGT.
Sumados-Fetico has expressed himself in similar terms, rejecting that the company always opts for early exit from the company after certain ages, and has stressed that any ERE must be accompanied by the negotiation of new collective agreements.
This union, the third most representative after UGT and CC OO, has stressed that the ERE must be “voluntary, universal and non-discriminatory” for all workers, guaranteeing the link with ordinary retirement and offering economic conditions, at least, equal to those of the previous ERE.
“Sumados-Fetico understands that the ERE responds to a need for the company. Therefore, the company must not only guarantee the best exit conditions for those who join, but also present a concrete future plan for the staff that remains and with whom it will carry out the new Strategic Plan,” it said in a statement.
Government position
For his part, the Minister for Digital Transformation and the Public Service, Óscar López, has made his approval of the ERE subject to there being an agreement with the unions. “In relation to Telefónica, the Government’s position is going to be very clear: what happens must always be with the agreement of the unions,” López stressed in statements to the press this Monday after the presentation of a report on the balance of the Kit Digital program.
