New reform of the labour market

Download article in original language : ES0505202NES.DOC

A new process of bargaining between the government and the social partners for the reform of the labour market began in March 2005. Its objectives are to increase job creation and employment stability, to promote the integration in employment of women and disadvantaged groups, and to reinforce the employment policies with special reference to labour mediation.

This start of the negotiations for a new tripartite agreement, the first since the one reached in June 1997, is a result of the agreement of summer 2004 between the government and the social partners to set up a 'social dialogue' on this and other questions. Followed the presentation of a report drawn up by experts, the parties to the agreement made a variety of proposals.

At the first meetings the two trade unions, the Trade Union Confederation of Workers’ Commissions (Comisiones Obreras, CCOO) and the General Workers’ Confederation (Unión General de Trabajadores, UGT), presented a joint document putting forward what they feel to be the essential aims of the reform:

• Stabilising employment by using permanent contracts as the norm and temporary contracts as an exception subject to conditions and controls.

• Special attention to safeguarding equal opportunities for women and men and for young and old, with efficient mediation services and training suited to jobs.

• An acceptance that seasonal activities may be covered by fixed-discontinuous contracts rather than temporary ones.

• Reinforcing the services of fraud inspection and control with greater funding and allowing trade union participation by providing appropriate information on infringements.

The trade unions stress two of the main processes that lead to temporary employment: subcontracting, which should be regulated and controlled, and the illegal transfer of workers by companies operating fraudulently as temporary employment agencies (Empresas de Trabajo Temporal).

Though the employers association the Spanish Confederation of Employers' Organizations (Confederación Española de Organizaciones Empresariales, CEOE) accepts these general objectives, it wishes to add agreements aimed at increasing productivity, fostering flexibility and achieving less rigidity in the termination of the labour relationship (dismissal).

The Ministry of Labour (Ministerio de Trabajo) proposes an increase in the social security (Seguridad Social) contributions for temporary contracts and a reduction for permanent ones in order to make the latter more attractive. It wishes to offer allowances for permanent recruitment and to simplify the currently over-complex system of allowances. It also wishes to limit contracts for work and service to exceptional cases channelled through temporary employment agencies. Finally it proposes that, as was agreed in 1997 for contracts converted from temporary into permanent ones, all new permanent contracts should be subject to a compensation for dismissal of only 33 days per year of seniority compared with the current 45 days.

It remains to be seen how the negotiations will evolve, because the employers agree with the last point, but the trade unions claim that the current aim is to reduce temporary employment, not the cost of dismissal.

This information is made available through the European Industrial Relations Observatory (EIRO), as a service to users of the EIROnline database. EIRO is a project of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. However, this information has been neither edited nor approved by the Foundation, which means that it is not responsible for its content and accuracy. This is the responsibility of the EIRO national centre that originated/provided the information. For details see the "About this record" information in this record.