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Spanish unions meet with UNI
Commerce: FETICO and major employers continue to play an improper game Last week, a meeting was held in Madrid between UNI Commerce and the two Spanish affiliates, FECOHT-CCOO and FETCHTJ-UGT. A main issue on the agenda was how to deal with FETICO, a yellow 'trade union' established with active support from large employers after the fall of the Franco dictatorship. Intended to hinder the real unions from entering retail trade, FETICO has continued to have an improper support from and cooperation with management.
At the latest Carrefour European Works Council Meeting, FETICO made a nasty attack on the Spanish member of the steering committee, Pilar Montes. They claimed that the seat should belong to themselves, and asked for Pilar to be removed from her position. This was, of course, not even taken up for consideration by the committee, whose members did not react positively to the FETICO outburst. It is not only in Carrefour that these problems exist, although the relations between the local human resource management and FETICO seem to be particularly warm in this company. In fact, Carrefour has lost two court cases, which have dealt with discrimination charges. But also in Metro (Makro), the two Spanish commerce trade unions have encountered similar problems. Until now, UNI Commerce and its Spanish affiliates have tried to approach this question through dialogue with the companies concerned. However, if there is no change forthcoming, other measures have to be taken. There are international instruments and agreements, including on company level, which give both the right and the obligation to the group management to intervene. |
