New organisation established for resolving labour disputes out of court

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In April 1998 the Intersectoral Mediation and Arbitration Service (SIMA) was set up in Spain. This organisation is designed to implement the social partners' agreement on resolving labour disputes out of court and the regulations accompanying this agreement, both dating from 1996. SIMA, which had already proved popular by August 1998, thus joins the already complex fabric of institutions devoted to resolving labour disputes.

The "agreement on resolving labour disputes out of court" (Acuerdo sobre solución extrajudicial del conflictos laborales) was signed in 1996 by the main trade union confederations and employers' organisations (ES9705107F). It aims to help resolve disputes that arise in sectors or subsectors of economic activity that go beyond the regional environment of an autonomous community (region), and in companies when the dispute affects places of work located across more than one autonomous community. In order to implement the agreement and its accompanying regulations, in April 1998 an Intersectoral Mediation and Arbitration Service (Servicio Interconfederal de Mediación y Arbitraje, SIMA) was established. Certain details affecting the operation of the Service have not yet been finalised, such as the period over which it will be operative, but the agreement has a fixed term, running up to 31 December 2000, with the chance to extend it for successive five-year periods if the signatories raise no objections.

The new system

The voluntary systems for resolving labour disputes out of court can now be summarised as follows: the autonomous communities of the Basque Country, Catalonia, Valencia, Galicia, Canarias and Murcia have their own procedures for resolving disputes that arise within their regional areas. However, for those that go beyond the regional area, whether in companies, sectors or subsectors of economic activity, SIMA is called in if the parties involved so wish.

According to an assessment that was drawn up in August 1998, 60 sectors and subsectors had included in their respective collective agreements clauses that provided for the possible intervention of SIMA in the event of a dispute. These cover about 5 million workers and the sectors include graphic arts, trade, construction and public works, electricity, insurance companies and mutual societies for industrial accidents, textile and clothing and road transport. These are major sectors, though certain other important sectors have failed to integrate the terms of the 1996 agreement.

In 1998 up until August, SIMA has intervened in about 28 disputes in companies at national level and in three at sectoral level, covering approximately 20 companies and one sector. In one case the intervention involved arbitration, whilst the rest involved conciliation and mediation.

This is an important beginning, but arbitration will take longer to be introduced because Spain has no tradition in this area. It began for all intents and purposes in 1992 with the Labour Court of Catalonia (Tribunal Laboral de Cataluña) and in the Basque Country.

A complex system of mediation, conciliation and arbitration

The system of mediation, conciliation and arbitration in Spain is complex (ES9705107F). Joint organisations of employers and trade unions coexist with three other institutions that are also devoted to resolving labour disputes, two in the public administration and one in social jurisdiction.

This situation continues, and it is therefore not surprising that there are regions that have neither their own voluntary body nor call in SIMA when the dispute extends beyond the boundaries of the autonomous community. In these regions, disputes are settled through the organisations referred to above. These also play a major role in the autonomous communities as fully operative voluntary organisations, thus giving rise to a certain harmony amid the complexity that is difficult to find in any other political or institutional area of Spanish life. This complex network of institutions leads to consensus rather than confrontation, and has helped to resolve a great number of disputes.

Commentary

There seems to be no doubt that SIMA will continue to operate for a long time yet. Its firm basis and the popularity that it has achieved are a good demonstration of this. It is highly likely that the 1996 agreement will be extended beyond 2000, and will probably be renewed indefinitely through a formula similar to that of the Labour Court of Catalonia. A system for resolving labour disputes voluntarily out of court will thus have been established both at a nationwide level and across the autonomous communities, with a consequent increase in the number of cases of conciliation, mediation and - a little later - arbitration. However, all this will take place in coexistence with the existing two dispute resolution bodies in public administration and social jurisdiction. (Fernando Almendros, Fundación CIREM)