Martín Artiles, Antonio

In May 2004, Spain's new Socialist government announced that the national minimum wage will be increased by 6.6% from July. This is the first stage in a substantial rise promised by the government during its term of office.

The future of pensions is a key issue in Spain, as it is throughout the EU, in the light of an ageing population, and various alarming projections have been made of the situation in 2020 or 2040, not least by the European Commission. The issue is also connected with a wider discussion about public social expenditure in Spain, which is low in EU terms. This article examines the situation and the debate in 2004.

Despite a high economic growth rate, Spain's two-year downward trend in unemployment came to an end in the first quarter of 2004. At the same time, the active population is increasing due to immigration and more women joining the labour market. Over 2002-4, the purchasing power of wages has fallen due to inflation.

Trade unions have responded positively to Spain's new Socialist government, which took office in April 2004. The unions are especially pleased with the new administration's express commitment to social dialogue and its social policy programme.

Research published in early 2004 by the Trade Union Confederation of Workers’ Commissions (CC.OO) sheds light on current patterns of work organisation and the flexible management of working time in Spanish companies. It finds that new forms of work organisation are not widely disseminated, except in larger firms, and the traditional 'Taylorist' model is still dominant. However, working hours have increasingly been made more flexible though methods such as flexi-time and working time accounts.

It was announced in March 2004 that the Volvo-owned Renault Industrial Vehicles plant in Villaverde (Spain) is to close, with the loss of 443 jobs, and its lorry production is to be moved to a French plant. The UGT trade union has criticised the fact that the company wants to sell the Villaverde site for non-industrial use

Workers at the three Izar shipyards in Andalusia,, southern Spain, are threatened with lay-offs due to a lack of work from 2005. Meanwhile, collective bargaining for the shipyards is deadlocked in early 2004 due to disagreement over pay increases. The situation led to high-profile protests by the workforce in February.

February 2004 saw industrial action at Printer, a graphical company (part of the German Bertelsmann group) based in Barcelona, over management plans to cut nearly 100 jobs and reduce pay by 18%-24%.

In early 2004, the Portuguese-based textiles multinational Fisipe proposed to reduce pay at its Spanish plant by 15% and make 30 employees redundant, in order to be able to sell the operation to a Spanish investor. A mass meeting of workers accepted the proposal, despite the opposition of the workers' committee.

In December 2003, Spanish trade unions called for the national minimum wage to be increased from EUR 526 to EUR 660 per month. They point out that: minimum wage recipients have suffered a loss in purchasing power in recent years, the minimum wage is only 40% of the average wage; and Spain's is the second-lowest statutory minimum wage in the EU.