On December 23 pink slips began arriving at the homes of the workers of Seat, a subsidiary of Volkswagen in Spain. Comisiones Obreras (CC.OO.) and the UGT —the majority unions— tried to show as a success the reduction to 660 from the 1,400 layoffs initially proposed by the company. But the truth is that almost half of the workers are on the street and the agreement as a whole is a model of labor flexibilization: reductions in layoff compensation with the possibility of rehiring within between 18 and 24 months (something hard to believe since Seat signed a commitment for there to be no more layoffs for 2006, but says that the pact does not resolve all the excess in personnel), “widening of the hours pool” (that is, adapt the load of working hours to market demands), forced retirement after the age of 65 and temporary suspension of contracts after the age of 60, among other points. The leaders of the trade union central confederations thanked “the determining role played by the powerful German trade union IG Metall in Volkswagen's betting on Seat” (El País, 17 Dec). No more need be said.
The job losses led to spontaneous assemblies among the workers in all the shifts —independently of the trade union confederation of which they were members- which paralyzed production for several hours. “The workers shouted 'strike!, strike!'” in an atmosphere of euphoria and “indignation,” according to Diego Rejon, of the anarcho-syndicalist UGT. There was no sign of the leaders of the UGT and the CC.OO. in the plants.
The CGT rejected the agreement, which it called “disciplinary cleanup” and denounced that the company was attacking its members (23% of the layoffs, 7.6% of the plant). Among those laid off was the Secretary General of the CGT of Cataluna, Merche Sanchez, who has worked for Seat for 15 years. Sanchez stated that among those laid off were workers older than 55, part-time women workers and pregnant workers, together with workers who had been CGT candidates in the union elections at the company and stewards, those who cost the company the most.
The head of the CGT at Seat headquarters at the Zona Franca of Barcelona, Francisco Selas, assured, for his part, that in the reports presented by the UGT and CC.OO. opposing the [company's] document during the period of consultation it can be clearly seen that there had been no excess [of personnel] and that Generalitat (the autonomous government of Cataluna) should have rejected Seat's request.