Aug. 26, 2020
Spain
Jul. 27, 2020
Unions call on government to honour agreements
The FeSP-UGT and FSC-CCOO public service federations continue to push the government to honour key agreements and commitments some of which date back to 2016. Above all the unions want to see the main agreement (IV) covering state administration workers fully implemented, including a new pay structure. The delay since March 2019 means that workers are already owed anything from €670 to over €2100, depending on their grade. The unions are concerned about the government stalling on this and also saying that any pay increase this year is dependent on the budget for 2021. There are other outstanding issues including the drafting and implementing of equality plans and action on recruitment and promotion. The FSC-CCOO has been organising social media campaigns and protests with a demonstration outside the public service ministry set for 30 July.
Jul. 10, 2020
Unions challenge government to implement agreements
The FSC-CCOO and FeSP-UGT have taken the government to task over the failure to implement a series of agreements. Around 200 FSC-CCOO activists protested outside the public services directorate on 9 July over employment, equality and, pay and other issues. The union wants action over jobs to make up some of the 43,000 that have been cut over the past 10 years. They also highlight the failure to properly implement equality plans and are calling for last year's agreement on pay to be put into effect to partially compensate for the 14% fall in purchasing power since austerity measures were in force. Staff in state museums are due to strike on 19 and 26 July over these issues. Meanwhile, the FeSP-UGT federation has highlighted the government's failure to reduce temporary employment which has risen from just under 17% to nearly 21% over the past four years but is much higher in some parts of the public services such as healthcare where it tops 46%.
Jul. 01, 2020
Unions raise concerns about approach to telework
Unions organising in state administration in both Spain and Portugal have raised serious concerns about the approach to telework and particularly governments taking the opportunity to regularise arrangements that were only adopted on an emergency basis. While there is recognition of the potential benefits to work-life balance, unions argue that fundamental issues need to be addressed through collective bargaining in relation to working time, the right to disconnect, provision of equipment, health and safety, training, contact with the workplace and the voluntary nature of the decision to telework.
Jun. 17, 2020
Federations raise key issues on employment, pay and telework
The FeSP-UGT public service federation has sent a number of key demands to the public service ministry for a new agreement covering public sector workers. The union wants action on improving employment conditions and reducing precarious employment but also has a number of specific proposals on telework, noting that the estimated impact of COVID-19 has been an increase from 26,000 to more than 450,000 public employees doing telework. Among the key demands are action to balance security and flexibility with increased productivity; voluntary nature of telework; equality of rights with other workers; privacy, confidentiality, risk prevention, training and information; health and safety; working time and consultation. Meanwhile, the FSC-CCOO federation has denounced the fact that, more than a year after the entry into force of agreement covering 40000 workers in state administration, the government is refusing to increase salaries and the payment of accumulated pay arrears amounting to some 35 million euros. There is also a failure to establish new professional classification system. The union has called for an immediate confirmation of funding for the pay increase and says it will consider protests and mobilisation after crisis if this is not addressed.
Jun. 04, 2020
Unions call on government to start negotiations
The public service federations of the CCOO and UGT confederations have called on the government to negotiate a new agreement for public employees that will include provisions that allow for the recovery of rights, wages and employment that were cut as a result of austerity measures after the last crisis. The current agreement was signed in March 2018 and expires this year. The federations have three main priorities: the defence of public services; an increase in public employment, including a reduction of the rate of temporary employment and ending the restrictions on replacement of staff who leave; and continued steps to recover purchasing power and labour rights.
May. 29, 2020
Unions call for negotiations in public health
in a meeting with the Ministry of Health on 13 May, the FSS-CCOO and FeSP-UGT health sector federations have called for action on staffing and pay and conditions across the sector. In particular, the FSS-CCOO demanded that the Ministry of Health schedule negotiations covering the National Health Service (SNS). The union is unhappy that it was only on 13 May that negotiations have been convened during the entire period of the crisis. The federations want to see an extension of contracts until the end of the year for all those employed on temporary contracts to help deal with the crisis. This will help deal with the restart of normal health activity and increased waiting lists. The unions want to see investment in primary care with more staff to monitor COVID-19 patients and ensure no further outbreaks in residential care; improve the supply of personal protective equipment with increased national production; increased funding for health and greater investment in technological innovation and declaration of COVID-19 as an occupational disease. The FeSP-UGT has also suggested measures such as partial retirement to support the many older workers in the health service and reiterated the call for full restoration of bonuses cut after the last crisis to be fully restored. FSS-CCOO (ES) FeSP-UGT (ES)
May. 04, 2020
Federations call for action on staffing and pay in the elder care sector
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 demands include an audit of care homes, higher pay and increased staffing, more funding from central government and a greater role for the public sector.
Apr. 24, 2020
Unions raise key issues for return to work in public administration
The FSC-CCOO and FeSP-UGT public service federations have been setting out key demands in relation to the rules that should apply before a return to work in public administration. The FSC-CCOO is highly critical of the return-to-work plan drawn up by the government which it says fails to take account of key advice from the ministry of health. It also points out that there is nothing in the plan in relation to telework which is currently being done by around 60% of public administration workers. The union says that while issue of technical support and health and safety were not fully dealt with because of the crisis, these do now have to be properly addressed.
Apr. 08, 2020
Health union calls for change in return-to-work protocol
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 provide support if there are urgent staff shortages. The union estimates that this could provide an additional 6500 doctors and 12500 nursing and other professional staff. The FeSP-UGT federation has also raised concerns about infection of health staff and continuing problems with the supply of personal protective equipment and testing.
Feb. 21, 2020
Care worker trade unions plan action in March
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.
Jan. 21, 2020
Unions welcome implementation of agreed pay rise
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 equality plans.
Dec. 18, 2019
Union rejects government delay to pay increase
The public service federations of the CCOO confederation have called on the acting government to guarantee that the 2% pay increase, agreed as part of a three-year pay deal, will be paid on 1 January 2020 to all three million public sector workers. Formally a new government has yet to be confirmed and the acting public service minister is claiming that the increase cannot be confirmed but that it could be paid and backdated later in 2020. The union argues that the increase can be paid on the basis of a royal decree and say this needs to be done urgently as part of the union demands to win back rights cut or reduced during austerity.
Dec. 04, 2019