On 6 June 1998, a decree law was published privatising the Spanish road passenger transport company, ENATCAR. The trade unions responded with protest demonstrations and strikes.
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On 6 June 1998, a decree law was published privatising the Spanish road passenger transport company, ENATCAR. The trade unions responded with protest demonstrations and strikes.
Under the Spanish government's programme of privatising public companies, it is now the turn of the National Road Transport Company (Empresa Nacional de Transporte por Carretera, ENATCAR) and a privatisation decree law was published on 6 June 1998. The reasons put forward by the Ministry of Development (Ministerio de Fomento), on which the company has been dependent up to now, are that the privatisation will lead to an improvement in the economic position and the administration of the company, and increase the quality of service.
The trade unions represented in the company, CC.OO, UGT, USE, and CI, state that these reasons have little to do with reality, and claim that ENATCAR is a very profitable company offering a high-quality service and very reasonable rates for travellers. The unions feel that the privatisation merely seeks to favour the private transport companies that will take over the public company - an objective allegedly disguised with completely subjective arguments and based on highly debatable figures.
On 28 May, union delegates and groups of workers from the company concentrated in Madrid, in front of the head office of the company, to protest against the privatisation plan. Strikes were also called on 11 and 13 June after the publication of the privatisation decree and, according to workers' representatives were supported by 100% of the workforce. The privatisation may have serious consequences on employment, in the form of redundancies. It may also lead to a worsening of the working and safety conditions that have been achieved in a sector where it is fairly difficult to impose the legal requirements, such as limits on driving hours, rest periods and systematic servicing of vehicles.
The unions are resolved to continue fighting the privatisation, or at least to prevent its negative effects. However, this new privatisation shows that the current conservative Government is unwilling to maintain public companies, even if they are clearly profitable.
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (1998), Protest strike over privatisation of ENATCAR, article.
