Download article in original language : ES0503103NES.DOC
Since the autumn of 2004 there has been a dispute in the sector of industrial accident mutual insurances societies over the imminent modification of their regulation in order to separate mutual insurance societies from external welfare services, which up to now have been offered directly by the mutual insurance societies. The government, the sectoral employers' association AMAT and CCOO and the UGT signed a new agreement in January that guarantees the labour rights in the new situation.
Spanish companies are responsible for the providing suitable conditions of health and hygiene at work under the 'Occupational Risk Prevention Law'. The mutual insurance (Mutuas Laborales) societies can provide their services to companies that wish to comply with the law, particularly when they are unable to do so internally, as in the case of most SMEs. Spanish law originally allowed the mutual societies to meet the health and safety requirements in their own organisation and in companies of the same group, so the provision of this service was not subject to the competition of other companies offering health and safety services. This meant that there was a captive market in which the mutual societies (ES9708216F, ES0007100F) provided health and safety services to themselves, without competition.
Though this system has helped the mutual societies to survive, it has also given rise to serious problems:
- The mutual societies mix the accounting of public funds (social security contributions) and private funds (fees charged to companies for external services).
- The societies are more concerning with meeting the formal and legal requirements than with improving the services.
- There is a situation of unfair competition because the mutual societies contract the external services to themselves, and thus have a captive market to which other providers of welfare services do not have access.
After the report by the National Audit Office on the mixed accounting of public and private funds in services of occupational risk prevention, the government announced the divestiture of external welfare services. The government has published a draft Royal Decree developing Article 32 of the Occupational Risk Prevention Law to separate the activities of the mutual societies paid by social security contributions from the external welfare services.
The trade unions initially disagreed with the measure because of the risks that it involved. In protest, they collected 8,000 signatures that they delivered to the Ministry of Labour and held demonstrations in several cities against a process that could affect 10,000 workers. They rejected the initiative of transferring the external welfare services to profit-making organisations as of 2005, which they considered to be a kind of 'privatisation' involving less control by the Ministry a poorer quality of service. In the divestiture of the external services, which could affect over 500 mutual societies, it would be desirable to extend the collective agreement to the new companies in order to protect working conditions.
The trade unions (ES0301208F, ES9907146N) would prefer a divestiture to non-profit societies similar to the savings banks in Spain, in order to prevent the price taking precedence over the quality of service. They also observe that the viability of the mutual societies could be threatened by the divestiture and propose a transition period of five years or the possibility of mergers if the societies are too small to operate alone. The General Workers’ Confederation (Unión General de Trabajadores, UGT), the Trade Union Confederation of Workers’ Commissions (Comisiones Obreras, CCOO) and the General Confederation of Labour (Confederación General del Trabajo, CGT) (though the latter put forward more demanding quality criteria) agreed on many of these points.
The final agreement between the Social Security, the Association of Mutual Insurance Societies for Industrial Accidents and Occupational Illnesses (Asociación de Mutuas de Accidentes de Trabajo y Enfermedades Profesionales, AMAT) and the UGT and CCOO included the following points:
- The activity of the mutual societies as external welfare services will be divested and transferred to independent limited companies with a sole shareholder devoted exclusively to this purpose.
- The mutual societies will negotiate their own agreement of divestiture between the management and the workers' representatives, guaranteeing the rights and employment stability of the workers who form part of the new companies.
- A process of bargaining of a new collective agreement of the sector of external welfare services will begin, taking as a basis the general 'Collective Agreement for Insurance and Re-insurance Companies and Industrial Accident Mutual Insurance Societies of the Social Security', which will remain in force until the new agreement has been drawn up.
- Until 2007, the workers transferred to the new companies will have the option of filling any vacancies or new jobs in the mutual societies, providing that they meet the requirements. The workers of the mutual societies may fill any vacancies or new jobs in the divested companies in the same conditions.
- The workers' representatives transferred to the new companies will maintain their personal rights and guarantees until new trade union elections are held. All recognised trade union guarantees and the principles of non-discrimination will be respected.
- A Joint Commission will be set up to monitor the process, and will include representatives of the associations of external welfare services.
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