Spain Business Brief - Friday November 6 2009
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By h.b. - Nov 6, 2009 - 1:34 PM
Spanish unions open the door to talks on labour reform

Unions UGT and CCOO in Spain say they are not ruling out reaching an agreement which includes some form of labour reform.
It comes after they have made considerable progress on an agreement on the new three-year wage round, which will ‘probably’ be signed next week.
The news was given in a press conference today by the Secretary General of the CCOO, Ignacio Fernández Toxo.
In effect the unions have said they will discuss labour reform if the employers organization CEOE agrees the wage round first.

Despite announcing record losses of 238 million € for the six months to September, British Airways says it will continue to talk about its merger with Iberia. However the airline has given no details about the discussions with the Spanish carrier, and there is no confirmation on reports that they may be moving headquarters to Spain. BA says that 1,200 jobs are to go, in addition to 3,700 already lost.

The Spanish construction, energy and services company Acciona has signed the outgoing EU Foreign Policy Chief, Javier Solana. He will work with the company on their international strategy.

Data from the Bank of Spain has shown that mortgage credit is currently no higher than it was in 2008. The total amount lent to families at the end of September was 903.24 billion €, down 2% on a year ago.
Loans to companies meanwhile were also 2% down during September compared to the same month last year.

The association for bank and savings banks in Spain, the Spanish Bank Association, AEB, has toned down earlier comments calling on supervisors to allow banks to go bust.
Now President of the AEB, Miguel Martín, says that they were not calling for banks to disappear, but also to merge.
It follows the take over announced this week of the debt-laden Caja Castilla-La Mancha by the Cajastur.
Cajastur has announced profits of only 39,000 €

Telefónica has announced it is to buy the German broadband operator, Hansenet, for 900 million. The company offers ADSL, voice, mobile and TV by internet services, and is currently owned by Telecom Italia.

The amount of cargo being transported through Spanish ports has fallen by 15.5% over the first nine months of the year, compared to last. The largest fall in traffic was seen in Málaga where it was down 58.4%.

The average working week has got shorter in Spain, as it has elsewhere in the European Union, as more people engage in part-time work during the recession. The latest Eurostat report says the average working week is now over half an hour shorter here at 40.6 hours. The EU average over the 27 countries is 40.3 hours.

And finally,
A Valencia bakers has started to sell bread by machine outside their premises. The bakers say that as much as 30% of their sales are now thought the device which is filled with fresh bread several times a day and which is in operation 24 hours a day. The bread dispenser keeps the bread inside at the ideal humidity for its freshness.
The inventors are in fact a family company from Galicia, Panignacio. You’ll pay 60 cents una barra, the same as inside the shop.

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