The Federation of Services, Mobility and Consumption of Madrid (FeSMC), framed within the General Union of Workers (UGT), faces a sanction after verifying the existence of an “illegal transfer” of workers in the legal service.
As this newspaper has learned, the fine would amount to 60,000 euros per worker and, taking into account that there are up to 16 employees, the amount could rise to almost one million euros. This is a question that It not only acquires relevance for being one of the largest unions that, supposedly, defend the rights of workersbut also due to the current political context of polarization and the “close” relationship between the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the general secretary of the union, Pepe Álvarez.
In the investigation, around thirty people were questioned and concluded that the “illegal” transfer of workers “exists throughout the entire time” in which the service has been provided, without substantial changes having occurred in the work dynamics. That is to say, it is not a one-time event, but rather a structural situation that continues over time.
Although formally these workers appeared linked to an external company, in practice they operated as if they belonged to the structure of the actual organization that receives the service, that is, the union.
This practice is contrary to article 43 of the Workers’ Statute regulated under royal decree –and many other European regulations– and also violates the regulations on labor relations, classified as a “very serious” infraction in the Law on Infractions and Sanctions in the Social Order.
The investigation began as a result of different complaints that included relevant facts about the organization of the legal service of the federation itself and other possible serious labor irregularities, as well as false self-employment and violation of union rights.
The main thesis argued by the complainants is that, although formally there are “external” lawyers or from companies with which the federation maintains a contractual relationship, in practice they all functioned as if they were internal UGT workers. This is an issue that constitutes labor fraud, which goes against current regulations and which has been confirmed by the Labor Inspection.
Furthermore, regarding the external office of the federation and which is the central axis of the investigation, the complainants affirm that it belongs to a person released from Renfe and a close colleague of the state general secretary of the federation, and that there would be an extra cost in the expected contract with UGT.
It must be taken into account that the illegal transfer occurs when a company acts as a mere intermediary without truly assuming the organization or the risk of the business activity, while the employees provide services in an integrated manner in another entity. This is a risk that the Inspection has confirmed to be “non-existent.”
According to the Inspection, when a non-affiliated worker made a consultation, the payment was made directly to the UGT consultancy, without the external company receiving any amount. This fact reinforces the thesis that real economic activity was centralized in the union.
The origin of the problem dates back to 2018, after the unification of two federations into the current FeSMC UGT, and the subsequent restructuring of the legal service. As they argued at the time, in that year to avoid problems with “false self-employed people,” some lawyers were fired or forced to create companies, although, in reality, they continued working as before.
Thus, they said that there was no real difference between the work performed by internal and external employees. The complainants also claimed that there were certain union releases who they would be charging allegedly irregular diets as compensation for occupying jobs regulated in the UGT Framework Agreement and who had never set foot in the companies to which they belonged.
Furthermore, all external offices used UGT work resources and, according to the complainants, There was no difference in treatment between lawyers with an employment contract from the union itself and external officesbut everything is centralized by the administrators.
Likewise, the order form is identical for in-house workers and for external offices, without at any time informing the client that their data will be processed by entities external to FeSMC UGT, implying that they are part of the Union’s own staff.
In parallel, the complainants have assured that, by making the facts known, many have suffered retaliation such as layoffs or limits on workloads. Also, on the other hand, it must be taken into account that this illegal transfer of workers represents economic damage to the employees.
As this newspaper has learned, the workers did not receive the remuneration corresponding to the company for which they actually provided services. That is, these people were in fact working for a structure different from the one that appeared in their formal contract and, therefore, they would have been paid less or under worse conditions than those to which they were legally entitled.
In any case, the resolution is not yet final and may be the subject of allegations or appeal. If the facts are confirmed in later instances, the case could have greater economic and legal implications for those responsible, in addition to opening the door to individual claims by the affected workers.
However, this is not the first time that this UGT federation has faced various complaints for allegedly violating workers’ rights. Last year, another Labor Inspection certified – after seven complaints filed – that The union did not comply with the regulations on occupational risk prevention nor did it have any psychosocial risk protocol. that evaluated, among other things, the workload of each employee, which represents a violation of state regulations.
In addition, there were also complaints of alleged unfair dismissals of workers with disabilities and even demands for retaliation and threats by the union.
unfair administration
In parallel, some of those affected by the alleged irregularities in the management of the FeSMC-UGT legal service would be considering taking a step beyond labor complaints and studying legal actions for unfair administration.
According to sources consulted, they consider that the internal organization and certain economic decisions could have generated direct harm to both workers and the union itself.
In fact, they maintain that it would not only be a labor problem, but also a management that could have compromised resources and contracts in a questionable manner.