Single collective agreement signed for state administration staff

Download article in original language : ES9812190FES.DOC

In November 1998, the Minister for Public Administration and trade union representatives from CC.OO, UGT, CSI-CSIF, ELA-STV and CIG signed the first "single agreement for non-civil service staff" of the central Spanish state administration, covering approximately 100,000 workers.

The first "single agreement for non-civil service staff" of the central Spanish state administration was signed on 16 November 1998 by the Minister for Public Administration and representatives of five trade union organisations - the Trade Union Confederation of Workers' Commissions (Comisiones Obreras, CC.OO), the General Workers' Confederation (Unión General de Trabajadores, UGT), the civil service union confederation (Confederación de sindicatos independientes y sindical de funcionarios, CSI-CSIF), Basque Workers' Solidarity (Eusko Langileen Alkartasuna/Solidaridad de Trabajadores Vascos, ELA/STV) and the Galician trade union confederation (Converxencia Intersindical Galega/Convergencia Intersindical Gallega, CIG). The agreement unifies the 53 separate agreements that were previous in force and covers approximately 100,000 people who work as non-civil service staff in the general state administration, as well as the administration of justice, social security and regional government bodies. The new deal will remain in force until 31 December 2000.

Negotiation process

The negotiation process took over six months and was very complex. The single agreement had been a long-standing demand of the unions and especially CC.OO, the trade union with majority representation in the public administration (47%). The aim was to unify collective bargaining in order to bring the working conditions of all non-civil service staff into line with those of civil servants. However, there were two significant obstacles to this aspiration.

Existing regulations were extremely varied, with 53 different agreements for non-civil service staff of the various administrations and organisations of the state. The most complex aspect was the unification of occupational classifications (there were a total of 2,413 grades) and the criteria for pay policy (the various bonuses in each agreement were dependent on a range of very different elements).

The financial cost was high. The single agreement involved unifying the pay conditions of all non-civil service staff, but the main cost was that of progressively bringing the pay conditions of non-civil service staff into line with those of civil servants, a key point for the unions.

Bearing in mind these difficulties, it is not surprising that at the beginning of the negotiations the single agreement seemed a practically impossible goal. The administration and some minority trade unions felt that it would be more feasible to reach a framework agreement establishing a series of reference rules for the negotiation of each agreement, an objective that had already been pursued on other occasions but without success. The Ministry of Public Administration therefore offered to allocate a total of ESP 4 billion in 1998 for the unification and comparison of pay conditions. The single agreement was made possible by the initiative of other unions, and especially CC.OO, which in April 1998 submitted a proposal that is basically the one finally approved. The agreement accepts the ESP 4 billion, but only as a starting point, because it sets targets for bringing pay into line with that of civil servants, which will involve further funding over the next few years. All the signatories believe the agreement to be very positive, though they admit that the negotiation of certain important aspects has been postponed.

Main contents of the agreement

The single agreement has achieved the two initial objectives of homogenising the working conditions of non-civil service staff and of making progress towards bringing them int line with those of civil servants.

A single system of occupational classification is established with eight pay levels and 11 "functional areas" that provide for a more rational classification of the vast number of categories that had existed previously. The pay rate for each grade is identical with that of civil servants. Hence no worker covered by the agreement will have basic pay below the corresponding civil service grade. This objective will be reached progressively over the period that the agreement is in force.

The agreement establishes a new pay structure, giving priority to basic pay items over the many types of supplements that had previously been applied for a variety of reasons. Basic pay consolidates the currently agreed bonuses and supplements payable across all the original grades. In all cases the pay conditions of non-civil service staff will be the same as or higher than those in force under the relevant original agreement. Bringing pay supplements into line with those of civil servants was postponed for future negotiations.

Other aspects of interest in the agreement include the following.

• The use of temporary work agencies to cover jobs is excluded, in line with the legislation passed by parliament in March 1998.

• Overtime is reduced to a maximum of 60 hours per worker per year.

• For the first time it has been established that negotiations are compulsory before changes to individual working conditions or a requirement for functional and/or geographical mobility. Joint bodies must be informed of the reason for the change, including the criteria to be applied for selecting the workers affected and any training and adaptation to the job that may be necessary.

• Collective rights are maintained and adapted to any new situation, and a new system for administering the agreement has been set up (a central joint commission with departmental subcommittees), which in principle should allow the agreement to be correctly applied and interpreted

Commentary

This agreement is of great importance. The lack of unity in collective bargaining in the state administration used to be an obstacle to modernising the management of human resources and fostering greater quality in services. It also led to discrimination between different groups of workers that was difficult to justify and clearly prejudiced those with less capacity for organisation and lobbying. To all this it must be added that the single agreement for non-civil service staff was also an essential requirement for bringing pay into line with that of civil servants and for revitalising the pattern of industrial relations in public administration from a more integral viewpoint. Thanks to this agreement and the new Civil Service Statute (ES9803143F) - on which work is continuing - this objective now seems much closer. (María Caprile, CIREM Foundation)