The unions present in Renfe and Adif have reached an agreement to call off the strike that they had planned for tomorrow, according to negotiation sources. The workers' representatives had called nearly 30,000 workers to strike starting tomorrow, Friday, in protest against the investiture agreements between PSOE and ERC, which established the transfer to the Generalitat of Catalonia of services and infrastructure currently carried out by Renfe - in the operation of services - and Adif, in infrastructure management.
This agreement was immediately responded to by the ranks of the public company committees, who fear that both companies will end up divided as a result of the agreement with ERC and successive pacts between parties, such as the PNV, which also requires materializing the transfer of operations and infrastructure to the first quarter of the year, before the regional elections. For this reason, they unanimously called a strike for the next November 24 and 30 and December 1, 4 and 5. The impact of the protest yesterday led Renfe to announce the cancellation of 1,548 medium, long-distance and AVE trains, in addition to another 990 freight trains. The protest was called with the previous Minister of Transport, Raquel Sánchez, but it was going to take place with her successor in office, Óscar Puente. Sánchez tried to deactivate the strike last week, without success.
Union sources clarify that the agreement is still pending signature but that, in any case, "There are commitments to maintain the integrity of the companies and set up a negotiating table." The scope of this commitment is not clear, especially taking into account that the agreement of November 2 between PSOE and ERC established, literally, that "the Ministry of Transport will transfer to the Generalitat of Catalonia the ownership of the railway infrastructure in "which the services provided are exclusively owned by the Generalitat and can be excluded from the joint exploitation of the rest of the General Interest Railway Network".
The agreed division of the public network surprised even the railway infrastructure manager. Adif internal sources expressed to this newspaper their disbelief at what they consider an "unprecedented and unprecedented" initiative, as well as a "technical and legal challenge."
Regarding the operation, the investiture pact offered to transfer vehicles and workers to the Generalitat of Catalonia next year. Specifically, it was agreed to "establish the commercial company Rodalies Catalunya, with the majority participation of the Generalitat of Catalonia, segregated from Renfe Viajeros, which will be provided with the material and human resources that are currently used and necessary for the provision of transportation services. Rodalies in Catalonia by Renfe".
These commitments went far beyond what the railway workers could endure without raising their voices. Although the leaders of CCOO and UGT have supported the PSOE in its plan to form a Government, their railway federations have forced them to stop the pact and bring it to a negotiating table with the commitment not to divide the companies.
