Water, Staffing levels, Pay settlements, Spain

A statute published last month confirms the pay increases that will be implemented this year for all public sector workers as part of a three-year package that was negotiated with unions last year. Along with a basic increase of 2.25% this January, there will be an additional 0.25% (0.3% if there is a budget surplus in 2018) and a further 0.25% in July if economic growth is 2.5% or more. Unions will be looking for progress on other key demands when they meet the government later this month. In particular, they want to see an increase in public sector employment and an end to restrictions on

After a long and bitter strike, social and residential care workers - the vast majority women - have won a major victory and new three-year collective agreement covering employers in the Bizkaia/Vizcaya region of Northern Spain. The agreement will involve four pay increases staged from September 2017 to 2020, equivalent to an overall increase of 20%. The move to a 35-hour week will also mean a cut of 200 hours per year and involve the recruitment of more workers and so will improve the quality of care. There will also be improvements to compensation in the event of occupational accidents or

The FSC-CCOO and FeSP-UGT public sector federations have negotiated a deal with the government which will mean gradual restoration of purchasing power and other rights lost during the years of austerity. Over the next three years salaries will increase by at least 6.12% but this could rise to 8.79% if certain economic and deficit targets are met. There is also a commitment to get temporary employment down from 24% to 8% of the workfoce. Restrictions on recruitment will be loosened with certain priority areas now able to replace all workers who leave. The deal also confirms the return to

Public service unions bargaining for better pay across EuropeA pay rise for public service workers across Europe is the message that EPSU has sent out today – 23rd June – Public Services Day. Supported by the European Trade Union Confederation and in cooperation with the ETUCE teachers' federation, EPSU has highlighted some of the countries where public service workers continue to suffer from the effects of pay cuts and pay freezes.This special issue of EPSU's Collective Bargaining newsletter reports on some of the latest developments in pay negotiations and affiliates' campaigns, protests and

The FSC-CCOO and FeSP-UGT public service federations have finally negotiated a new agreement covering 40000 workers in the central state administration. This comes three years after the last agreement and failure of the previous government to negotiate a deal. The new agreement will mean an overall increase of 14% for the lowest paid covering the three years 2018-2020. There are also measures to clarify job classifications and relate them more closely to educational qualifications. The unions are also pleased to include for the first time provisions to allow workers aged 55 and over to opt for

The FSC-CCOO and FeSP-UGT public service federations have welcomed the confirmation by the government that the agreed pay increase of 2% (plus 0.3% in additional funds) will be implemented for all 3.2 million public sector workers, backdated to 1 January. The unions were concerned about a delay until a new government was in place. The FSC-CCOO says that it will now look to tackle a number of other key issues with the government including measures to reduce the level of temporary contracts to the target level of 8%, to increase recruitment and to work on issues related to career development and

The unions UGT-FICA and FSC-CCOO are both very positive about negotiating a new four year agreement with the AGA employers' organisation in the water sector. The agreement will run until 2022 and covers around 20000 workers. There will be a 3% pay increase in each year but there is also an opening clause if inflation exceeds this figure. Working time is reduced by eight hours with annual total of 1744 from 2020. There is a wide range of other measures relating to health and safety, work-life balance, equality and digitalisation among others.

The CCOO-Sanidad health service union has repeated its call on the government to change the protocol on discharging health workers from treatment for COVID-19 and returning to work. The union argues that the procedure should be no different to that applying to other workers and that it is essential to ensure that health workers have completely recovered from infection. It warns that pressure to get health staff back to work has contributed to the 19400 health worker infections and 13 deaths. The federation has called for medical students in the final year of their studies to be called up to

The Sanidad-CCOO and FeSP-UGT public service federations have called for a range of actions in the elder care sector in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. Both federations were already campaigning to secure better pay and conditions for the workforce, 90% of which are women. They both argue that the impact of the pandemic has further exposed the fundamental problems of low pay, inadequate staffing, stress, excessive workloads. These have been compounded by the lack of personal protective equipment and inadequate testing which have exposed both workers and service users to the virus. Key union

Five health unions (CCOO, SATSE, ELA, LAB and UGT) are continuing to work together in a long-running campaign to secure increased funding for primary care in the Basque region. Their latest initiative involves demonstrations at health centres right across the region on 22 December. The unions are calling for action on staffing with the creation of 1000 new posts, the transfer of thousands of temporary workers to permanent contracts and an end to excessive use of temporary hiring. The unions are also calling on other campaign groups to join the protests.

The FSC-CCOO and UGT-SP federations have confirmed that workers in embassies and other overseas missions will get a 2.5% pay increase backdated to 1 January 2023, in line with the main framework agreement covering public administration. They have also secured a guarantee to negotiate a new salary revision later in the year, in the event of an increase for other public administration staff. The two unions have reaffirmed the validity of the 1990 Agreement and the demand to ensure an annual salary review that that obliges the administration to negotiate a periodic increase in pay taking into

The health and social service federations - CCOO-Sanidad and FeSP-UGT - are planning to mobilise workers in the care sector in March to put pressure on employers to negotiate a collective agreement. The unions will organise protests outside the head offices of the main companies in the sector highlighting the problems in relation to low pay, health and safety and inadequate staffing that face the 250,000 overwhelmingly women workers. The unions are also calling on the government to tackle underfunding of services and to ensure decent working conditions through procurement.

Care sector unions in the CCOO and UGT confederations have managed to negotiate substantial pay increases for social care workers in the first collective agreement covering residential and day-centre care in the Balearic islands. The agreement covers around 4000 workers and provides for pay increases of more than 41% staged over the next four years, 22.42% from June 2023, 5.81% from June 2024, 5% from June 2025 and 3.86% from June 2026. The increases will bring workers in line with pay levels in the regional authority. There will also be an 18-hour reduction in working hours (7 hours in 2024

On 3 March the FSS-CCOO and FeSP-UGT federations signed a new three-year collective agreement covering around 300,000 workers in the public residential care sector. The agreement runs until 31 December 2025 and was secured after negotiations lasting for almost five years. It includes salary increases of 4% this year and 2.5% in both 2024 and 2025. A salary update clause means that there could be additional adjustments depending on developments in inflation. There will an hours reduction calculated on an annual basis with an 8-hour cut in 2024 and a further cut of 12 hours in 2025. Improvements