First company agreement on employment and working time in Catalonia

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JEVSA is the first private company based in Catalonia in which an agreement has been reached on employment and working time, under the auspices of this Spanish region's "pact for employment". Signed in December 1998, the JEVSA agreement is based on a scheme providing incentives to promote permanent employment contracts by reducing and reorganising working time.

A decree issued by the Generalitat (regional government) of Catalonia came into force at the beginning of October 1998, regulating incentives for creating new jobs by reorganising and/or reducing working time, including overtime. One of the agreements contained in the 1998-2000 "Pact for employment in Catalonia" (ES9805154F), signed by the Catalan government and the social partners on 13 May 1998, was thus implemented.

The decree followed the provisions laid down in the Pact, by:

• promoting the net creation of employment through agreements in companies to reorganise and/or reduce working time, including overtime;

• ensuring that companies' involvement is on a voluntary basis.

• guaranteeing the participation of workers' representatives in the application and monitoring of the agreements; and

• promoting secure employment. Subsidies will underpin new permanent employment contracts, whether full-time or part-time. As a general rule, 40% of the employers' social security contributions will be subsidised for a maximum period of the two years during which the Pact remains in force. The subsidy will be between 20% and 25% for workers who already attract recruitment subsidies from the central government.

Impact on companies

The first company to have reached an agreement on employment and working time in the framework of the Pact for employment in Catalonia was JEVSA, a chemicals company in the rubber subsector with around 120 employees. The agreement was signed on 20 December 1998, though its coverage by the Pact was not ratified until early 1999. The agreement was signed by JEVSA management and the workers' committee, which was advised by FITEQA, the chemical workers' federation affiliated to the CC.OO trade union confederation. Legally, the agreement is a pact linked to the general state agreement for the chemicals sector and will have the same validity as this agreement.

The impact of this new regional regulatory framework on private companies has currently proved weaker than initially expected. In late March 1999, JEVSA was still the only company in Catalonia to have reached an agreement, although other companies were currently in the process. In other regions where pacts on employment and working time have been reached (ES9902297F) it is still too early to see results - in most cases the agreements have not yet been formalised by regulation.

The content of the JEVSA agreement

More flexible work organisation

JEVSA applies the continuous production system, following the "5-2 model" (five days of work and two of rest in the first two cycles, and five days of work and six of rest in the third cycle). The agreement specifies that units subject to the continuous production system may change to the shift system or the split-shift system when the level of external demand makes this advisable. These changes will be communicated, and justified, to the workers' representatives.

Redistribution and reduction of working hours

The agreement provides for 1,730 working hours per year, distributed as follows: 1,548.67 hours of "effective" work on the production line, 67.33 hours of sandwich breaks, 24 hours of theoretical training, 50 hours of practical training (such as analysis of production incidents on the line) and 40 "pool" hours (see next point). The agreement therefore involves a new distribution of annual working hours. It also involves a reduction of what are called "effective" working hours in the agreement, although there is no reduction in working hours as such if the training hours and the "pool" hours are taken into account.

Absence

The "pool" system (40 hours per year) is seen as a way to fight absence from work. It will be used to deal with unforeseen or short absences. The replacement of absentees through the "pool" system will be for a maximum of four successive working days. No worker may refuse to work these hours. The only exception laid down by the agreement is replacement on the night shift: the worker may claim that he or she is unable to work the "pool" hours on the first night, but not on the three following nights.

Fluctuations in production

In order to meet the specific needs of production or external demand, the company will have a total of 100 hours per year per worker that are distributed irregularly or freely and included in the annual working hours. These hours will be compensated with time off, unless the workers request otherwise. The employees will be given 1.5 hours off for every hour worked, starting from the ninth hour worked on normal working days and from the first hour on public holidays. No employee may refuse to work these hours.

Permanent job creation

The agreement establishes that the reduction in effective working hours represents the creation of 33 permanent jobs.

Other aspects related to employment

The agreement lays down that contracts entered into with temporary employment agencies will cover occasional activities or replacement of workers who are off work for long periods. Workers from temporary agencies will have the same rights and duties as the workers employed by JEVSA and their pay will be 100% of the amount specified by the general agreement for the chemicals sector.

The agreement also establishes that for new recruitment (whether temporary or permanent), other things being equal, workers who have or have had a temporary employment relationship with JEVSA and workers of the gender least represented in the corresponding occupational group will have preference.

Commentary

The JEVSA agreement deals mainly with the reorganisation of working time, giving greater discretionary powers to the company to optimise working hours to deal with fluctuations in production and demand. It must be stressed that the agreement covers the system of work organisation, enabling the company to change from a continuous system to a system of shifts or split shifts. This issue is not usually included in company pacts on more flexible working hours. A second prominent feature of this agreement is that greater flexibility in working hours is also seen as a way to reduce the cost of absence and to absorb it back into the workforce. This is meant to avoid as far as possible the recruitment of temporary staff or the use of temporary employment agencies.

The impact of the agreement on job creation and improved working conditions is less clear. It states that the reduction in "effective" working hours will lead to the creation of 33 permanent jobs; this is a significant number for a company with a workforce of about 120. The agreement also establishes that workers from temporary agencies will receive the same pay as the permanent workforce, although this is now relatively common and the sectoral agreement for such agencies has already set out the period during which wages will be brought into line with those of user companies. However, overall JEVSA now has far greater freedom to arrange the working hours of its employees, and no mechanism has been provided for the participation of the workers' representatives either in the reorganisation of working hours or in the creation of the permanent jobs. (María Caprile, Fundación CIREM)