Martín Artiles, Antonio

The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions has commissioned a research project to analyse the impact of flexible employment policies and human resources management on working conditions at the corporate level. Research institutes of seven countries participate in this project. For each country two or three cases are studied of organisations applying different flexible employment solutions. The seven countries are: Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands and The United Kingdom.

Negotiations on the collective agreement of the Volkswagen (VW [1]) factory at Landaben in Pamplona, northern Spain, have been at a standstill for more than 15 months over the question of pay [2] flexibility. The management of VW is proposing to increase pay by half a percentage point above the Consumer Price Index (Índice de Precios al Consumo, IPC) for all financial years up to 2008. [1] http://www.volkswagen.com/ [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/pay

On 26 April 2006, the draft bill on gender equality [1] proposed by the socialist government was submitted to the Economic and Social Council (Consejo Económico y Social, CES [2]). The bill was approved in a two-to-one majority by the CES, with the inclusion of an amendment presented by the Spanish Confederation of Employers’ Organisations (Confederación Española de Organizaciones Empresariales, CEOE [3]). [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/gender-equality [2] http://www.ces.es/ [3] http://www.ceoe.es/

The first study presents the results of the March 2006 opinion barometer (Barómetro Marzo 2006 (in Spanish) [1]) – a monthly survey conducted by the Sociological Research Centre (Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas, CIS [2]), which measures public opinion in relation to social, political and economic developments in Spain. The second report, entitled /El acoso sexual a las mujeres en el ámbito laboral/ (Sexual harassment of women in the workplace), was published by the Women’s Institute (Instituto de la Mujer, IM [3]). [1] http://www.cis.es/cis/opencms/EN/1_encuestas/estudios/ver.jsp?estudio=5458 [2] http://www.cis.es/ [3] http://www.mtas.es/mujer

Figures from the 2005 Survey of the Active Population, conducted by the National Institute of Statistics (Instituto Nacional de Estadística, INE [1]), show that more than half of the women who work in domestic services are non-Spanish citizens. In 2005, some 682,882 people worked in domestic services, 90% of whom were women. Women’s participation in domestic services has been increasing since 1994, at a higher rate than women’s participation in other sectors. The reasons for this growth are related to social changes, particularly the ageing population, which has led to an increase in dependency and, as a result, to a greater demand for social services previously provided by relatives, mainly women. Due to the large-scale integration of women in the labour market, care services now represent a major challenge for the public authorities, as is reflected in the draft legislation, the Dependent Care Law. [1] http://www.ine.es/

The findings of a survey of living conditions in Spain, published in December 2005, highlight a number of issues of importance to current debate on employment and social policy. For example, the survey finds high employee turnover, affecting mainly the young, a high risk of poverty for people under 16 and over 65, and a wide pay gap between men and women.

The breakdown in negotiations on the 2006-2012 National Coal Plan led to a strike in the mining sector. The mining counties of northern Spain have already been severely hit by mine closures.

Employment in the textile sector is threatened by the prospects for 2010. Imports of products from China and India may reduce current employment by half. The employers of the textile sector are in favour of the Pan-Mediterranean Area.

According to research published in 2005, in Spain centralised collective bargaining at sector level favours the inclusion in agreements of provisions on work-life balance issues, whereas decentralised bargaining favours dispersion and an unequal treatment of the subject. Furthermore, EU Directives in this area have played an important role in introducing the subject of work-life balance onto the Spanish bargaining agenda

In March 2005, the Spanish social partners renewed for the second time a national agreement on resolving labour disputes out of court, first signed in 1996. The procedures laid down by the agreement cover 7 million workers, or 70% of all workers covered by collective agreements. The Intersectoral Mediation and Arbitration Service, based on the agreement, is becoming increasingly important in the resolution of labour disputes.