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Monday, Mar 17, 2025

Negotiations Between Government and Unions Prevent Major Renfe Strike

Negotiations Between Government and Unions Prevent Major Renfe Strike

Agreement to maintain control over Rodalies and avoid disruption of train services.
Workers of Renfe and Adif have successfully led negotiations to avert a planned strike that would have begun on Monday, which had the potential to cancel 1,400 train services.

The agreement reached involves significant alterations to the transfer of Rodalies services to the Generalitat of Catalonia, effectively preserving employee labor guarantees.

The deal was finalized between representatives of the majority of the unions involved and the Ministry of Transport, resulting in the integration of the new Rodalies Catalunya SA company into the Renfe group as a subsidiary.

In this revised arrangement, the initial proposal that would have allowed the Generalitat to possess a 51% stake in the mixed company has been retracted.

Instead, the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, committed to ensuring that Renfe Viajeros will hold a majority stake, while the remaining shares will be allocated to the Catalan administration.

Specific details regarding the exact percentage allocation between Renfe and the Generalitat have not been finalized but will be established in the upcoming statutes of the mixed enterprise, which are nearly complete and will be amended prior to submission in the coming days.

This structure guarantees that the public operator retains effective control over the new company, though the Generalitat will appoint the future president of the entity and will have its corporate headquarters in Catalonia.

In another development, the Generalitat will take ownership of the infrastructure along the Maresme line—the R1 line from Sagrera to Maçanet-Massanes—while operational management will still be conducted by Adif, as it has been up to now.

This transition will use a management commission or a similar tool for the legally specified period.

This reconfiguration of responsibilities aims to ensure labor peace among the unions of both public companies.

Furthermore, it has been communicated to the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) that the government, led by Pedro Sánchez, has a two-year timeframe to find suitable mechanisms to enable the Generalitat to gain majority control of the new company, a promise that was agreed upon verbally, contrasting with the written agreements with the unions.

Following extensive negotiations that extended into Sunday evening, which concluded just hours before the first planned 24-hour strike, the unions Semaf, CC.OO., and UGT have called off the strike, ensuring that train operations will generally proceed as normal on Monday.

The General Confederation of Labour (CGT) remains the only union not to support this agreement, although its influence among Rodalies workers is minimal.

Officials from the Ministry and the Generalitat, along with union representatives, have expressed that the accord is a result of collaborative efforts to balance the rights of workers, the delivery of public rail services, and adherence to prior agreements.

Despite the averting of the strike, the commencement of the week may still experience operational disruptions as the railway services had been adjusted for minimum operation, complicating the immediate return to full service schedules.

Furthermore, on the same day, a malfunction of a pantograph at the Barcelona-Sants station resulted in delays for thirteen high-speed and long-distance trains, with issues expected to affect service continuity in the immediate hours following the incident.
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