The strike committee of Metropolitano de Tenerife —a public company that operates the tram service between Santa Cruz and La Laguna— has announced the scheduling of two new meetings in July to try to resolve the labour conflict that has been affecting the company since February 2024.
The first meeting will take place on Wednesday, 23rd July, with the participation of the Unión Sindical Obrera (USO), and the second is set for Thursday, 31st July, this time with the presence of Metropolitano’s management, according to a statement from Comisiones Obreras.
The strike committee is made up of the Federation of Services to Citizenship of CCOO Canarias (FSC-CCOO), UGT, and USO, and represents all tram workers who are demanding the full compliance of agreements signed in recent years. Among them are the collective agreement 2019-2022, the transitional agreement of 2021, and the agreement to end the strike of 2023.
The labour conflict at Metropolitano de Tenerife, the public company responsible for operating the tram in the metropolitan area of Santa Cruz–La Laguna, has been ongoing for more than a year and a half.
The unions accuse the company of systematically breaching the agreements reached, which has generated a climate of permanent tension and several days of strikes throughout 2023 and 2024.
According to the largest union, FSC–CCOO, the new phase of negotiations aims to achieve “effective and lasting social peace”, which will only be possible if the company respects the commitments made and opens up to negotiate a stable and fair new labour framework for the workforce.
In these new meetings, union representatives will address essential aspects for the future of the workers, such as professional classification; working hours and their conditions; job stability; internal promotion; disciplinary regulations; and occupational health.
The unions insist that they will attend the meetings with a willingness to engage in dialogue and a commitment to negotiate, but they warn: “We will not accept regressions in the labour rights won after more than a year and a half of conflict.”
The role of the Cabildo Metropolitano de Tenerife, dependent on the Cabildo de Tenerife, has been pointed out by workers for its lack of willingness to fulfil the agreements made and for delaying the implementation of key measures to guarantee job quality in the company.
These meetings come at a critical moment, with the tram service established as a key element of public transport on the island, and with growing pressure from users regarding any potential disruption or deterioration of the service.
The company’s management has not yet issued any public statements regarding the convocations, although it is expected that the meeting on 31st July with the unions will help build bridges and move towards an agreement that will definitively close this long chapter of labour conflict.
In the meantime, workers continue to demand respect, compliance, and real dialogue to regain the lost trust and avoid new tensions that could affect the public service used daily by thousands of people in the metropolitan area of Tenerife.
