Restructuring events
European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
The Spanish telecommunications company Avatel, specialised in the deployment of fibre optic connections to the home, has officially presented to the employee's representative organisations an employment redundancy file (ERE) for 849 employees in Spain, around 40% of the total workforce (around 2,000 employees). Relative to the company's size, this lay-off is one of the largest ever carried out in the telecommunication sector in Spain.
On the one hand, the company has pointed out the need to correct its current size in order to reduce inefficiencies and thus improve the company's long-term productivity and competitiveness. On the other hand, the trade union UGT has pointed out that it will analyse the possibility of halting the ERE and, if not possible, it will try to minimise the number of affected people, while maximising measures to compensate their situation. Also, the trade union will pay specific attention to preserving the working conditions of the remaining staff.
Avatel's redundancy comes at a time of various employment adjustments in the Spanish telecommunications sector as a whole.
Updated (6 June 2024): The Spanish telecommunications company Avatel has reached an agreement with the company unions on the negotiated employment restructuring file (ERE) that will affect a maximum of 674 employees, nearly 200 fewer than the initially proposed 849. The agreement has been concluded with compensatory conditions of 33 days per working year (and 35 for those who voluntarily leave the company), with a maximum of 24 months. In addition, voluntary departures will be encouraged with a single premium of EUR 1,200.
Eurofound (2024), Avatel, Internal restructuring in Spain, factsheet number 201154, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://dev.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/201154.
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