News

With the signature of the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Telefonica Cesar Alierta,  UNI Global Union General Secretary Philip Jennings, CCOO Telefónica's General Secretary Jesús González and UGT Telefónica's Federal Secretary Alfredo Mesa,  the renewed global  agreement between UNI and Telefonica came into effect on Dec 1, 2014.

The commitment of Telefónica to encourage compliance with the rules laid down in this agreement by its contractors or business partners and its commitment to ensure that human rights are respected in their supply chains, represents a big step forward for the company and its unions and alligns this agreement with the changes that have occured in the telecom industry in last few years.

Telefonica operations around the world have been restructured and today the Americas region is the largest part of the company’s business. For that reason, a second big change in the agreement has been to integrate the Americas region in the Agreement's monitoring committee through the UNI Americas Regional Office representatives.

In 2000 the Global Agreement between UNI and Telefonica was an agreement without precedent and a reference for futures global agreements with other multinational corporations. The inclusion of the supply chain as part of this new text, once again places the agreement between UNI and Telefonica on the cutting edge of labour relations between multinational corporations and global unions.

UNI and its affiliates know that to implement this new agreement will be a challenge. The next meeting of the UNI Telefónica Alliance will be the first test of the agreement. The work between UNI, its affiliated unions and company to achieve better labour conditions and better labour relations will be the key to building a better future to Telefonica and its workers around the world.