The precarious labour relations maintained by subsidiaries or contractors of the Spanish multinational Telefónica is at odds with the legitimate social dialogue needed between stakeholders in the world of work. Thirty CUT members employed by Instalaciones y Tendidos Telefónicos del Perú-ITETE Perú S.A have been dismissed.

Despite the existence of collective bargaining at national level and the company’s inclusion in the system, the contractor has decided to get rid of the workers, members of the Tacna branch of the Telefónica workers’ union SITENTEL, by not renewing their contracts, in some cases, or directly dismissing them, in others. The company claims that the dismissals have been made on administrative grounds or for serious misconduct, but the core reason for the management’s actions is the workers’ membership of SITENTEL and the fact that they have called for collective bargaining, which the Telefónica contractor wants to avoid at all costs. The company’s actions constitute a direct attack on the collective bargaining negotiations underway.

"There is no doubt that the company is violating fundamental rights," said ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow. "There are national and international instruments, international agreements on corporate social responsibility that protect workers. Telefónica’s conduct is unacceptable!"

In a letter to the Peruvian authorities, the ITUC has urged President Ollanta Humala Tasso to take every measure to ensure that Telefónica, its subcontractors and subsidiaries duly comply with their obligations with regard to the ILO core conventions ratified by Peru.