Mercadona and the unions sign the most egalitarian and social collective bargaining agreement

Mercadona and the unions sign the most egalitarian and social collective bargaining agreement

The Juan Roig company guarantees a minimum base salary of 1,300 euros a month gross, plus supplements, and raises the paternity leave to seven weeks

  Mercadona has signed with the representatives of UGT and CC OO the new collective bargaining agreement and the equality plan, which will enter into force on January 1, 2019 and will last for 5 years. The new labor framework, more equal and social, reinforces Mercadona's commitment to stable and quality employment, advances its working conditions, while consolidating its commitment to improve the purchasing power of the workforce with a minimum base salary of 1,300 euros per month / gross, to which are added the company's own supplements that represent increases of 11% per year up to section 5, and a progressive increase in the base salary linked to the CPI, in addition to introducing improvements in nighttime bonuses and cold.

  Following Mercadona's aspiration to be at the forefront and be a pioneer in social aspects, the new agreement incorporates important measures of a social nature and reinforces Mercadona's commitments regarding the reconciliation of family and work life. Among the new measures, includes the extension of paternity leave to seven weeks, compared to the five weeks currently covered by the law; and the collection of 100% of the salary while on leave due to temporary disability up to 18 months.

Likewise, it introduces the extension of the leave of absence for childcare until the child reaches 12 years of age. In addition, those who have a minor in their direct care and who are enjoying a reduction in working hours, when the legal maximum age is reached, may request a change of part-time contract until the child's 15 years, and then return to full time, if they wish. Likewise, the agreement contemplates the possibility of requesting leave of absence with reservation of the job for up to three years in case of gender violence, as well as other specific rights in these cases.

In addition, the new framework establishes a maximum of 2 days a week of 10 hours; incorporates the return of the "bag of hours" in full days when it is 12 hours or more, and will establish the implementation of a transfer system; and fixed not to leave days less than five hours in total times. It also collects a minimum of seven free weekends per year and annual calendars of the working day for workers in the logistics area.

Equality plan

Mercadona has also signed with the union representatives the equality plan with which it consolidates its line of action in favor of equal opportunities, reinforcing facts achieved with the previous plan, such as that in 2017 47% of the promoted executive positions were women ; or the fact that equity is an inalienable value in the company's model, which applies since 1997 and transversally the principle of "equal responsibility, same salary".

Since 1993, the year in which Mercadona initiated the implementation of its total quality model, the company has not only promoted the practice of equality between women and men in access to employment, training and internal promotion, but also in the scope of the reconciliation of family and work life. As the Equality Commission created for this purpose has verified during the validity of the previous plan.

The trade union organizations and Mercadona have also agreed on the creation of a joint observatory with members of all signatory parties to provide greater flexibility and efficiency to the company when it comes to introducing improvements related to working hours and their distribution. For this purpose, it will be promptly informed of the new projects that Mercadona plans to implement, which will allow the observatory to previously transfer to the company recommendations related to the professional classification, the working day or its distribution.