Spain
Background information on industrial relations in Spain
- 24 Apr 2012
Spain: Spain: Employment and Industrial Relations in the Hotels and RestaurantsThe hotels and restaurant sector is closely associated with the tourism industry, which in Spain accounts for 10% of the GDP. The economic crisis initiated in 2008 has resulted in a decrease in the employment in the sector which still continues despite the modest recovery of tourism activities in 2010. Regarding the working conditions, the sector is characterized by higher rates of temporary and part-time employment than the average, a predominance of seasonal work, low wages and unsocial working time. Moreover, there is a greater presence of young women and migrant workers than in the rest of the sectors. The structure of the collective bargaining is characterized by the existence of one national sectoral frame agreement regulating general issues (articulation of the different agreements, professional classification, etc.) and different regional and provincial agreements regulating the concrete working conditions. This last circumstance produces regional disparities in the wage and working time regulation. Some of the challenges affecting the sector, as the higher incidence of temporary employment, have been handled by some collective agreements while another problems, such as the gender inequality, have been treated in a rather unambitious way.
- 05 Apr 2012
Spain: Spain: The representativeness of trade unions and employer associations in the insurance sectorThe insurance sector accounts for less than 1% of Spain’s aggregate employment. It is a sector characterised by a centralised collective bargaining structure, with one national sectoral multi-employer agreement covering the great majority of the employees, and 11 single employer agreements which accord well with the multi-employer agreement. \There are two unions, FeS-UGT and COMFIA-CCOO, which together account for more than 80% of the representativeness in the elections for work councils and labour delegates. There is one employer organisation, UNESPA, which represents approximately 90% of the sector’s businesses.
- 27 Mar 2012
Spain: Spain: The representativeness of trade unions and employer associations in the paper sectorThe paper sector accounted for 0.25% of the total employment in 2009, with women being highly underrepresented at 20%. Collective bargaining is defined with a great degree of centralisation, with only one existing national multi–employer agreement that covers approximately 75% of the employees in the sector. Company agreements also exist in 27 enterprises. On the other hand, it is worth noting that there is just one employer’s organisation that claims to cover all enterprises in the sector.
- 07 Mar 2012
Spain: SPAIN: The representativeness of trade unions and employer associations in the sea fisheries sectorThe sea fisheries sector accounts for less than 1% of the total employment in Spain, having declined during the last few years. There are three representative employers’ organisations: CEPESCA, representing most of the deep-sea fishing employer’s organisations, although it also claims to represent inshore sea fishing employer’s organisations; FNCP, which represents fishing associations belonging to the inshore fisheries; and UNACOMAR, which represents fishing cooperatives. The unions, FSC-CCOO, TCM-UGT are representative at national level, with ELA and CIG being representative in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country and Galicia, respectively. Nevertheless, no multi-employer agreement is currently in force.
- 05 Mar 2012
Spain: Unions oppose new law sanctioning greater flexibilityOn 11 February 2012, the Spanish Government brought in labour legislation which radically changed existing rules on collective bargaining and employment protection. The government’s main goals were to encourage open-ended contracts as well as other forms of work, to promote internal flexibility and to improve the efficiency of the labour market. The reform is strongly opposed by unions, who have organised a national protest, and who are threatening a general strike.
- 27 Feb 2012
Spain: New regulation improves rights of domestic workersA new regulation covering working conditions for domestic staff in Spain entered into force on 1 January 2012. It affects approximately 700,000 workers, most of whom are women. The new regulation puts household workers on the same level as normal employees in many respects, such as wages and working time. It also offers workers greater social protection by including them in the social security system. The unions have been positive about these measures.
- 21 Feb 2012
Spain: National framework agreement for the commerce sectorFragmented collective bargaining in the commerce sector has led to multiple agreements for different subsectors and levels. Consequently, unions and employer organisations have signed a National Framework Agreement of the Commerce sector (AMAC) which establishes the structure of collective bargaining. This will mean creating specific commissions to develop a common national framework on certain issues. The agreement will affect 1.5 million employees.
- 20 Jan 2012
Spain: Regional governments plan to cut education spendingIn 2011, the Spanish government agreed in the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council to set new goals for cutting the public deficit of the autonomous communities from an overall average of 3.9% to 1.3%. In response, several regional governments have drawn up new plans for reductions in their education budgets. In some regions fixed-term teaching positions will not be renewed and working hours will be extended. Unions have called strikes to protest against these measures.