Dispute at Astander shipyard

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Protests in June 1997 against the termination of ship-refitting work at Spain's publicly owned Astander shipyard met with a forceful response from the police. The problem arose because the Ministry of Industry imposed a unilateral amendment to the Strategic Competitiveness Plan for the naval sector. The dispute is still continuing, even though the Ministry has modified its position

The restructuring of the naval sector began in the mid-1980s, shortly before Spain joined the EU. From 1984 to 1994 there was a reduction of approximately 60% in both production capacity and employment. The publicly owned shipyard Astander, which in 1994 had 60% of the production capacity of the sector, continued to report significant losses. Under these circumstances, in the course of 1995 a new restructuring plan was drafted, the Strategic Competitiveness Plan (Plan Estratégico de Competitividad, PEC), which was signed by the state holding company Agencia Industrial del Estado (AIE) and by the trade unions CC.OO (Confederation of Workers' Commissions), UGT (General Workers' Confederation), CAT and ELA-STV (Basque Worker's Solidarity).

The aim of the PEC was to balance profits and losses by the end of 1998, both in the individual shipyards and in the whole public naval sector. The measures introduced by the plan included a reduction in production capacity (by 12.5%) and in the workforce (30%), technological investments and an increase in productivity (35%). These measures were backed by a total public subsidy of ESP 179,104 million, to be spent on social aid for redundancies (ESP 80,000 million), subsidies for investments (ESP 10,000 million) and compensation for losses incurred in previous financial years (ESP 89,104 million).

By consensus among the signatories, the measures contained in the PEC concerning the workforce and labour relations began to be implemented immediately following its signature. Most of the planned redundancies were carried out between 1995 and 1996. In 1997 a new agreement was signed, and was described by the AIE as the "key to the viability of Spanish public construction". The main developments were an increase in functional mobility, the establishment of an agreement on flexible working hours, wage moderation and greater adaptation of remuneration to the objectives of efficiency and productivity.

Dispute at Astander

The consensus with the trade unions was broken in April 1997, when the new Minister for Industry, Josep Piqué, unilaterally modified the PEC in order to obtain the approval of the EU's Council of Industry Ministers of the EU for the aid plan. Mr Piqué agreed that the Astander public shipyard would not carry out refitting of ships but only repair work. This agreement is a clear infringement of the PEC, which laid down that the priority activity of the shipyard was refitting work, with repair as only a complementary activity.

In the opinion of the trade unions, besides breaking the previous agreement, this decision was a clear threat to the viability of the shipyard. Up to this time, Astander had been fulfilling the requirements of the PEC both in its economic results and in its reduction of the workforce. Refitting work was around 25% of the activity of the shipyard and was of great strategic importance, since its added value is far greater than that of repair. According to the trade unions, Astander will not be viable if it performs only repair work: therefore, in the medium term the shipyard will have to be privatised or closed.

The protest against this measure has been supported by other shipyards, political parties, institutions, local governments in the region and several auxiliary companies of Astander. Because of failure to reach an agreement with the Government, the dispute escalated and tension reached its peak on 12 June, when a protest called by the Astander workers' committee met with a strong response from the police resulting in 16 injuries and six arrests. The apparent overreaction by the police had a great effect on public opinion, leading to a large protest demonstration in Santander that forced the Government to reconsider its position.

Uncertain future

After these incidents, Mr Piqué held a meeting with the leaders of the metalworking trade unions and agreed to reconsider the closure of refitting work at Astander. In November 1997, the Minister will ask the EU to rectify its decision. Meanwhile, negotiations over the situation at Astander will open, outside the framework of the PEC, between trade unions and the AIE. The unions plan to continue the dispute because they feel that though these measures are seen as a step forward, they do not yet guarantee the future of the shipyard.