Spanish Vehicle Testers (ITV) Plan Indefinite Strike 

An industrial dispute has led the Spanish vehicle inspection authority to plan an indefinite strike in October.

Specifically, the Valencian Union of the Technical Inspection of Vehicles (ITV) in Spain (equivalent to the UK’s MOT)  have announced a new date for their planned indefinite strike.

This move came as a response to the company’s request and was announced by trade union groups CCOO PV, UGT PV, Intersindical Valenciana, and CSIF in a collective statement, according to Economiadigital.es.

Postponed For Constructive Dialogue

The strike, initially set for Monday, October 2, has been pushed back to October 22. This decision allows the new management to familiarise themselves with the intricacies of the Sitval negotiations.

For those unfamiliar, Sitval is involved in the negotiations between the company and the workers. Workers are upset because they believe the company isn’t following a previous agreement about fair pay. They also feel that their talks about work conditions have been ignored.

Upcoming Union Meetings

To address and potentially implement the equalisation agreement, union meetings are scheduled to commence on  October 4.

The strike committee, however, has indicated that they will reconvene before the newly proposed strike date. Their future actions will be determined based on the progress of these negotiations.

Government Response To Delay

Nuria Montes, the Councillor for Innovation, Industry, Trade and Tourism, commended the ITV workers for their ‘exercise of responsibility’. She assured that her department, along with the new Sitval management, will employ their expertise and negotiation prowess to forge a fresh agreement.

Montes stated, ‘We are opening a new period, a new form of negotiation based, above all, on legal certainty for both parties so that it can lead us to a truly applicable agreement and not to the situation we have found ourselves in.’

What’s The Main Issue?

The workers want the company to follow an agreement made on 17th May. This agreement was about making sure workers get equal pay for the same job.

In some places like Alicante, some workers are getting paid 40 per cent less than others for the same work. Montes, however, has concerns about whether this agreement was made properly.

She says important government departments didn’t give their approval, and the current company leaders haven’t even seen this agreement that the workers are talking about.