The Ministry of Transportation, Renfe and Adif, in addition to representatives of the Generalitat have reached an agreement with the unions to distrust the strike that was going to start at midnight on Monday, March 17, just four hours before the seven strike days convened in Renfe and Adif, as EFE has advanced and has confirmed Eldiario.es.
The agreement that has been reached between workers and administrations, and which has the approval of ERC, which was the one who had signed the initial pact for Rodalies transfer, assumes that finally the Catalan rail service will not leave the Renfe group. Yes there will be a new mixed company to operate the Cercanías network, but the majority of shareholding will be state and not of the Generalitat, as provided in the agreement reached by Esquerra in November 2023, in exchange for the investiture of Pedro Sánchez.
This change supposes, in the opinion of the parties, a guarantee so that workers do not lose the right to territorial mobility that assists them for being employees of the Renfe group. The initially agreed that all the workers who wanted it would be subrogated to a new company, independent but participated by Renfe and the Generalitat, and in which employees would maintain the right to mobility through an agreement, but would stop belonging to the Renfe group.
The agreed change supposes, in practice, that there will be no operator change in the Rodalies network, but a brand change and the participation of the Generalitat in one of the Renfe divisions, although with a minority in the shareholders. At the moment the statutes of this new subsidiary are being closed, where it is planned to maintain the preponderance of the Generalitat with the right to choose its president and a majority in the Board of Directors.
According to Europa Press from ERC sources, the independence party has accepted “transitory” that the company is attached to the Renfe group to respond to workers’ requests, although it continues to defend that the final objective is that “there is a 100% Catalan company” that manages Rodalies.
In a statement, both the Ministry of Transportation and Sustainable Mobility, the Department of Territori, Habitge I transicted ecological of the Generalitat de Catalunya All the unions present in the Company Committees of RENFE and ADIF except for the CGT, indicate that the series of agreements reached suppose the disconvocation of the strike.
“After the meeting held this Sunday, the parties have shown their satisfaction for having reached an understanding that, in practice, will allow this Monday, March 17, the expected rail services,” this statement continues.
The Minister of Transportation, Óscar Puente, wanted to congratulate the negotiating teams for the work and “the good disposition to the agreement”, moments after the information was made public.
The CGT union has confirmed that it has not accepted the agreement agreed by the rest of the union members of the General Committees through a message in the social network X in which it states: “We do not sell ourselves!”
The General Company Committees of RENFE and ADIF (composed of the Semaf, CCOO, UGT, CGT, SF-I and SCF unions) convened seven days of strikes for days 17, 19, 24, March 26 and 28, as well as on April 1 and 3, against the breach by the Ministry of the 2023 agreements on both surroundings and on Renfe Merchandise.
The mobilizations were going to suppose, in their first five days, the cancellation of almost 1,400 trains of Renfe (1,383 trains) of the 4,260 scheduled in that period, 428 of high speed and long distance and 955 medium distance, in addition to 740 of goods.
The reasons for the strike
Unemployment arises in response to what they consider breaches by the Ministry of Transport in relation to the transfer of the Rodalies service to the Generalitat de Catalunya and the management of Renfe merchandise.
The General Company Committee of Renfe denounces “the lack of advances in negotiations” and “the absence of working groups that address these issues.” In addition, they express their concern about the assignment of a railway section and the entrance of the MSC logistics company in the Renfe Merchandise subsidiary, which they consider a “possible undercover privatization.”
For its part, the Adif Company Committee convened all workers to a general strike, censoring the constitution of a mixed commercial company with the majority participation of the Generalitat before December 31, 2025. According to the Generalitat, the Statutes of this company would be agreed during the first half of March.
A similar episode occurred at the end of 2023, when the Ministry of Transport and Renfe and Adif unions reached an agreement to distrust a similar strike due to the transfer of rhodalies.
Source: www.eldiario.es
