Agreement reached on employment and collective bargaining 2010–2012

On 9 February 2010, the most representative employer and trade union organisations in Spain signed an agreement which establishes the main criteria and guidelines for collective bargaining from 2010 to 2012. The agreement recognises the distinctive features of the Spanish economic situation. The first part focuses on aspects concerning employment, training, flexicurity and information and consultation rights, while the second part centres on pay issues.

An agreement for employment and collective bargaining over the period 2010–2012 was signed on 9 February 2010 by the Spanish Confederation of Employers’ Organisations (Confederación Española de Organizaciones Empresariales, CEOE), the Spanish Confederation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (Confederación Española de la Pequeña y Mediana Empresa, CEPYME), the Trade Union Confederation of Workers’ Commissions (Confederación Sindical de Comisiones Obreras, CCOO) and the General Workers’ Confederation (Unión General de Trabajadores, UGT). This agreement restores a practice that became effective in Spain in 2002 and which comprised the signing of agreements between social partners, laying down criteria and guidelines for collective bargaining. The lack of consensus in 2009 coincided with the fact that many collective agreements were blocked, mainly due to clashes regarding pay increase issues (ES0809049I).

In view of this situation, social partners have signed this agreement with the aim of improving the economic climate and working together to create stable employment by means of ‘a balanced distribution of efforts between workers and employers’.

The starting point of the agreement is a shared diagnosis of the most distinctive aspects of the economic situation in Spain, highlighting problems that have arisen owing to weak internal consumption, the restructuring of the construction sector, high public and private indebtedness and the lack of competitiveness.

The criteria and guidelines for collective bargaining set out in the agreement can be divided into two sections: the first part focuses on aspects concerning employment, training, flexicurity, and information and consultation rights, while the second part centres on pay issues.

Employment, training, flexicurity, information and consultation

This section of the agreement develops the following criteria:

• the promotion of stable employment, allowing a balance between the ‘flexibility of companies and the security of workers’ – following the European strategy of flexicurity – although keeping the option of temporary employment contracts;

• the necessity to improve worker training in order to contribute to the adaptability of companies faced with productive changes;

• the promotion of internal flexibility strategies ‘as ideal instruments for maintaining jobs and productive activity’;

• the need to encompass criteria relating to modifications in work organisation, brought about by innovation and technological changes.

In addition, several guidelines concern the distribution of working hours, setting out criteria linked with both trade union demands (such as limiting unnecessary overtime and facilitating work-life balance) as well as employers’ demands (such as the annualisation of working time). Other criteria have been introduced with the intention of contributing to information and consultation on the part of employers; these criteria encompass – along with those already covered by state regulation – measures connected with promoting information and communication technologies (ICT) and technological innovation in companies.

Pay issues

In this section of the agreement, the social partners set out criteria concerning the development of a moderate wage growth policy, the main aim of which is to promote job maintenance and economic recovery.

As a guide for pay increases, the following references have been established: 1% for 2010, between 1% and 2% for 2011, and between 1.5% and 2% for 2012. These references are supplemented with a wage review clause and a non-application or opt-out clause. The former contemplates adjusting salary increases taking into account real inflation throughout the period, in addition to what is stipulated in the collective agreement. The latter is a clause included in the minimum content of collective supra-company agreements, allowing the non-application of the specified salary increase for companies whose financial stability would be affected were it to be applied.

Monitoring procedures

It should be noted that, as a result of the agreement, a monitoring commission has been set up, comprising three representatives of each signatory organisation. Its functions involve interpreting, applying and monitoring the settlements reached, as well as endeavouring to lay down criteria and guidelines regarding issues such as equal opportunities, security in the workplace, corporate social responsibility and training.

Pablo Sanz de Miguel, CIREM Foundation