Spain
Public service federations, including FSC-CCOO and FeSP-UGT, have welcomed a new three-year agreement that could deliver pay increases of more than 9% by the end of 2024. Following government imposed pay rises of only 0.9% in 2021 and initially only 2% in 2022, unions pushed the government to open negotiations and respond to the cost-of-living crisis. There will now be an additional 1.5% increase in 2022 backdated to January. In 2023 there will be an increase of 2.5% but two further increases of 0.5% will follow depending on the level of inflation and economic output. There will also be a 2.0% increase in 2024 with an extra 0.5% depending on inflation trends. The agreement covers a wide range of other measures demanded by the unions covering payments during temporary disability, partial early retirement, professional classification, the 35-hour week and action to develop more equality plans. There is also a commitment to tackle pay and conditions in the overseas service although this has not stopped plans for regular strike action over the coming weeks to underline the need to address the situation of workers who haven’t had a pay rise for 14 years.
