Progress in 1998 collective bargaining round

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In the first six months of 1998, collective bargaining in Spain made good progress, with well over 5 million workers covered by a new or revised agreement. Wage moderation prevails and some progress has been made in employment security. However, few agreements have been reached on working hours.

Collective bargaining has been making good progress. In the first six months of 1998 2,034 agreements were reached (378 new ones and 1,656 revisions) and the employment conditions of 5,488,446 workers were thus regulated for 1998 (almost 600,000 workers more than in the same period of 1997). The average agreed wage increase is 2.54%, and 58.5% of the workers concerned are subject to a wage revision clause, with an average value equivalent to the forecast increase in the retail prices index (Índice de Precios al Consumo, IPC). These pay increases are moderate and, according to the trade unions, they leave companies with a margin for investing in the creation of secure jobs and reducing working time.

The unions are placing special emphasis in bargaining on the development of the national intersectoral agreement on employment stability (AIEE) of April 1997 (ES9806256F), above all with respect to converting temporary contracts into permanent ones. The incentives established in the AIEE for the conversion of temporary contracts can be applied to the temporary contracts that were valid at the time that the agreement was signed or that were signed during the following year. Agreements have been reached to extend this period of application in several sectors and companies. A relevant example is the national agreement for extraction, glass and ceramic industries, which regulates the employment conditions of around 52,000 workers. The agreement was signed in 1996, but in May 1998 trade unions and employers' associations signed an agreement on the "promotion of permanent employment". Through this, all fixed-term contracts or temporary contracts (included training contracts) signed during the period that the agreement is in force may be transformed into permanent jobs under the conditions established in the AIEE.

On the other hand, the results of bargaining on working hours have been more limited (ES9807178F). In the agreements signed over the first six months of the year, the reduction in working time is not very significant and, where it has occurred, in most cases consists of an annual reduction. Nor have there been any significant agreements on limiting and controlling overtime.