Striking Vallejo miniature and hobby paint workers win salary, safety agreements

After 26 days of escalating actions, striking workers at the Catalonian paint manufacturer Acrylicos Vallejo have won significant victories at the negotiating table. Vallejo manufactures the Game Color and Model Color line paints that are most popularly used for miniatures and wargames. According to a post on the Catalonian labor organization CGT’s Bluesky page, a pre-agreement has been signed that would guarantee workers a salary increase, a parental aid package, new workplace harassment protocols, and occupational safety improvements.

As previously reported by Polygon, nearly all of the 85 workers had begun a 16-day partial work stoppage in late November before escalating to a full strike on Dec. 11 — a year after Vallejo had been purchased by investment firm ProA Capital for just under $53 million. In the days leading up to this announcement, CGT works council president Patricia Pérez described the alleged actions of Vallejo management over the last year in an article first published in Catalan by Poder Popular and commissioned for English translation by Rascal News.

According to Pérez, the alleged conditions at the Vallejo factory were not only dangerous, but not in compliance with Spanish law. In addition to a lack of employee showers (a requirement for companies which handle dangerous chemicals) and machinery in disrepair, Pérez claimed that panels from the factory ceiling were often broken and falling, allowing rain to fall on the factory floor. The translation describes an alleged “authoritarian” work environment, with unreasonable expectations for worker productivity that led to CGT filing a lawsuit against Vallejo management. Pérez also claimed that the company’s safety protocols are “biased” and portray “victim[s] of harassment as the perpetrator.” One employee, who filed a complaint against the company, was allegedly fired three days later on the grounds of “low productivity.”

Pérez told Poder Popular that the labor actions had pushed Vallejo management to “set aside any discussions of productivity” and begin “genuine negotiations.” Though those initial wage propositions were presented as “minimal” in the Poder Popular article, the final agreements announced in the CGT social post include: a salary increase of up to €3000 per year, a social paternity package of €500 for the birth of a child, with €200 education allowance for each child below 25 years of age — an amount which must be multiplied by 1.5 for single-parent families.