Vodafone Spain reduces job cuts to fewer than 900

That's fewer than previously envisaged and brings to an end a period of strike action for the Spanish telco, which has been at loggerheads with the unions since its takeover by UK-based Zegona Communications at the end of May.

898 employees at Vodafone Spain will lose their jobs under the new deal, should it gain the approval of various workers groups, El Pais reported this week. That figure represents 27.5% of the telco's 3,268-strong workforce in Spain, the paper said.

It's a more palatable figure than the 1,198 job losses Vodafone Spain proposed in June as part of a cost-cutting plan that it said was necessary to ensure its survival. Naturally, the unions came out fighting; the Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT), Union Sindical Obrera (USO), and Confederación Sindical de Comisiones Obreras (CC OO) all opposed the move, calling for strike action on various dates in July.

The unions and the telco had until Wednesday this week to broker a deal, and they seem to have achieved that.

The UGT confirmed that negotiations between the parties had resulted in an agreement that would improve conditions for the affected workers, raise compensation levels, and maintain an early retirement model that it insists should be a pattern for the company to follow going forward.

It also extended a challenge to Zegona. In a Spanish language statement it called on the new owner to "redirect the errant and wrong course that has led Vodafone Spain to garner disastrous results in the Spanish market."

Redirecting the ship will be the job of the new man at the helm, José Miguel García Fernández, who took over as Vodafone Spain CEO when the Zegona deal closed.

The new leader has a wealth of experience to draw upon, having served as CEO of Euskatel before its acquisition by MasMovil three years ago, and of Jazztel, which is now part of Orange; both companies now form part of MasOrange, of course.

On Wednesday Vodafone disclosed that Garcia has acquired 485,500 ordinary shares in Zegona Communications at 265.3 pence each, which is a fair amount of money to spend and can only be seen as a vote of confidence in the company and its plans.

The fact that the news was announced just as the layoffs controversy had unfolded may well have been a coincidence, but a bit of positive PR can't hurt after a period of strike action and uncertainty.

That uncertainty is not yet fully at an end, with workers set to vote on the new deal in the coming days, El Pais said. However, the paper seems pretty clear that this deal will pass muster.

Further, it noted that Vodafone Spain has agreed that it will not carry out any more collective dismissals until the end of 2025, along with a number of other commitments that should be beneficial to the workforce.

With the redundancies crisis all but at an end, Zegona-led Vodafone can get back to its day job and the all-important task of improving its third-place ranking in the Spanish fixed and mobile markets. Indications are that it will not be an easy ride.