Coronavirus: Barcelona announce staff cuts for duration of Covid-19 crisis
The Camp Nou board has announced the temporary restructuring of sporting and non-sporting personnel to minimise the economic impact of coronavirus.
FC Barcelona have announced that members of staff will be laid off or have their salaries reduced temporarily as a result of the coronavirus pandemic to minimise the economic impact of the Covid-19 crisis on the club. The measure will affect both playing and non-playing personnel from the senior squad down to all areas of the club's day to day operations.
The measure, known as an ERTE (Temporary Workforce Adjustment Plan) in Spain, was approved at a meeting of the Camp Nou board held on Thursday evening and delivered through a club statement. An ERTE, governed by Article 47 of the Spanish Labour Statute, is a mechanism whereby a company can seek legal approval to temporarily dismiss a number of employees or reduce their working hours to ensure the financial viability of the business during a time of crisis. It was a regular feature of the last recession in Spain, which was the result of the global financial crisis of 2008.
Under the terms of an ERTE, employees are entitled to 70 percent of their salaries for the first 180 days of its application.
Barcelona explained that once it had spoken to those staff members affected, the ERTE would be presented to the Labour Department of the regional government of Catalonia for processing while expressing their optimism that the normal activity of the club would be resumed as swiftly as possible.
Earlier on Thursday, the club's first-team squad players announced that they had rejected a proposal to accept wage cuts put forward by the Camp Nou board.
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FC Barcelona statement in full
The Board of Directors, meeting remotely this Thursday March 26, have discussed the measures to be applied to minimise the economic impact that the coronavirus crisis is causing on the activity of FC Barcelona, as well as the actions that are being carried out by the club and the Foundation in collaboration with the authorities, with the aim of avoiding the spread of the disease as much as possible.
The declaration of the state of alarm last March 14, a consequence of the health emergency that we are experiencing with the coronavirus pandemic, meant the cessation of all activity, sporting and non-sporting, at our club. Faced with this scenario, the Board of Directors has decided to implement a series of measures to mitigate its effects and reduce the economic effects of this crisis.
Among the measures adopted, it's worth noting those related to the workplace are motivated by the need to adapt the contractual obligations of the club staff to the new and temporary circumstances that we are experiencing. It is about the presentation of the different relative files in the sporting field (football and other professional sports), as well as for the rest of the non-sporting personnel.
These files will be processed before the Treball Department of the Generalitat de Catalunya, once the club has shared all aspects related to these measures, and their scope, with all its staff, both sporting and non-sporting. Basically it is a reduction of the working day, imposed by the circumstances and the protection measures carried out, and, as a consequence, the proportional reduction of the remuneration provided for in the respective contracts. Measures that the club wants to implement scrupulously follow the formal labour regulations, under the criteria of proportionality, and above all fairness, and with the sole objective of resuming the activity of the club as soon as possible.