Telefónica is preparing a tough ERE, but for many veterans it will be like a prize

Telefónica has informed the unions of an ERE that would affect 6,088 employees, 24% of its workforce in Spain. The initial proposal includes seven companies and will presumably replicate the pattern of the last adjustment: in the 2024 ERE there were more applications to take advantage of the available spaces.

More than 200 people were left outside. Or rather: inside.

In detail. The most affected divisions:

• Telefónica de España: 3,649 departures, 41% of the workforce.
• Mobile phones: 1,124 (31.3%)
• Solutions: 267 (23.9%).
• Movistar+: 279 employees, almost a third.
• The parent company (SA), Global Solutions and Digital Innovation: between 140 and 378 exits (from 22% to 32%).

The backdrop. The adjustment is framed in the Marc Murtra’s strategic plan to save 3,000 million euros until 2030. The objective: to reduce overhead costs that grow faster than income in a fragmented Europe with almost 40 competing operators.

The Ministry of Labor described as “indecent” that a company with the State as a shareholder (10% via SEPI) executes an ERE while in profits. But the Government itself endorsed this strategic plan, on the condition that there was a union agreement. Minister Óscar López made it clear: “It always has to be with the agreement of the unions.”

Between the lines. Incentives explain the avalanches of applications:

• In the ERE of 2024, compensation was around 67% of the salary until age 63, with paid contributions, health insurance and a supplement of 38% until age 65.
• The average cost per departure was 380,000 euros. Less generous than in previous EREs (in 2021 it was 463,500 euros), but enough to pack your bags.
• The annual savings for the company, 285 million euros.

For someone who turns 56-57 and has been in the house for decades, it is a difficult deal to refuse. Those affected earn until they retire without having to work. This ERE targets those born in 1969, 1970 and 1971, with departures staggered between 2026 and 2028.

Yes, but. As in The Leftoversa good part of the story is that of those who remain.

• The veterans come out with the mattress on. Those who remain – especially the younger ones – will presumably inherit more burden, more uncertainty and a less clear professional future.
• The question that no one has answered yet: which Telefónica will be left after losing weight at the top?

The unions already know this. UGT, CCOO and Fetico-Sumados They demand that departures be voluntary (as in 2024), but they also want to extend the agreement until 2030, tie in improvements in teleworking, working hours and salaries, and guarantee stability for the next five years. Without improvements for those who follow, there will be no agreement.

The great unknown. Not all branches have the age pyramids to fill positions only with volunteers. The three main ones of the Related Companies Agreement (Spain, Mobile, Solutions) repeat the profile: aging staff, high seniority, juicy incentives. The unions predict that the excess of requests will be repeated.

But at Telefónica SA (the corporate center), Global Solutions or Digital Innovation, the staff is younger. There the risk of forced dismissals is greater. CCOO has already warned that in these subsidiaries “the population pyramids are different.”

In perspective. The “bargain” for those over 55 coexists with the concern of those who cannot benefit. A Telefónica that reduces costs, yes, but also a generational gap that widens with each ERE.

And an unresolved question: how to prevent the next political or shareholder change from activating the guillotine again? The unions want shields until 2030. The company, room for maneuver.

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Featured image | Telephone