The employees of the cleaning and waste collection concessionaire Urbaser in Jerez are set to begin an indefinite strike on Friday in protest at planned redundancies (ERE) in the company.
Representatives from the concessionaire and the employees failed to reach an agreement on Thursday after the company announced that 83 full-time and 42 part-time employees would be laid off. This represents a 30% reduction in staffing and is the result of the Council announcing that it intends to reduce cleaning costs by 20% as from January 1st 2013 as part of its ‘adjustment plan’. Jerez Council has debts in excess of €1 billion.
As from Friday, rubbish collection will be limited to three trucks and 10 workers, covering just 3 of the normal 32 routes. Minimum services state that the work is performed between 06.00 and 13.00 and purely in the areas relating to health and education facilities and food markets. Meanwhile, street cleaning will be at 20% and on alternate days.
The next meeting between Urbaser and the employees is on Monday.