Claro, UIET labor group sign 3-year contract agreement
The UIET set up camp in front of Claro’s Guaynabo headquarters during the drawn-out collective bargaining agreement talks. (https://www.facebook.com/claro.antiobrero)
Following almost two years of tough negotiations that included a lawsuit in court and major employee protests, the management at Claro de Puerto Rico and the Independent Telephone Workers Union, known as UIET in Spanish, signed a three-year collective bargaining agreement on Jan. 30.
The agreement is designed to position Claro in “optimal conditions to offer service quickly and reliably,” Claro President Enrique Ortiz de Montellano and UIET President Edward Sánchez-Gautier said in a joint statement issued Tuesday.
The contract will preserve 1,500 jobs, they said.
Even under the difficult conditions the island is experiencing, and considering the tough competition in the industry, we reached an agreement that provides some of the best benefits in the private sector, they said.
The UIET is Claro’s largest labor union, and one of two along with the Brotherhood of Independent Telephone Workers, which groups middle management.
During the negotiations, UIET members staged protests at the Labor Department and set up a permanent campsite in front of Claro’s Guaynabo headquarters to show their discontent with the process.
