Culture, Precarious employment, Spain

Public service federations in the CCOO, FeSP-UGT along with ELA and other trade unions coordinated strike action across public services in the Navarra region on 15 February. The unions are calling for increased funding for regional government to guarantee quality, universal and free public services for all. They are also seeking an increase in pay to begin to recoup the 20% loss in purchasing power over the past decade. Other demands include a commitment by the regional authority to reach the long-standing target of having only 8% of all workers on temporary contracts as well as initiatives on

The FSC-CCOO, FeSP-UGT and other unions in the ministry of justice in Spain have been protesting to demand negotiations over the impact of legislation on organisational efficiency in the justice sector. The unions coordinated a demonstration outside the ministry on 22 November to highlight their concerns that the law doesn’t guarantee rights in relation to mobility, promotion, remuneration and other labour issues and that it poses a risk to jobs and the quality of service. Above all the unions want to ensure that all these questions are the subject of negotiation. Meanwhile, in Italy the three

The FeSP-UGT and unions in the CCOO confederation have called on the government to urgently address the continuing problem of temporary work in the public services. The unions say that the government needs to set out the criteria that should apply in transferring temporary staff to permanent status. Broadly speaking the unions want to ensure that all those who have been temporarily employed for at least three years have the opportunity to move to a permanent contract and that the process of doing so is clear, certain and equitable. They also want the public service ministry to clarify how the

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 public service federations of the CCOO confederation coordinated mobilisations across the country on 10 November to put pressure on the government to negotiate over pay and conditions and public spending. The federations are determined to ensure that the pay and benefits lost following the last crisis are restored. They estimate that public sector workers saw their purchasing power fall by 11%-18%, with only 4% restored so far. The unions regard the 0.9% pay increase imposed for 2021 and the 2% proposed for 2022 as totally inadequate. They also want to see action on jobs and serious

The FSC-CCOO public services federation organised a protest outside the General Directorate of Public Administration on 15 October in anticipation of a series of one-day strikes by theatre and museum staff. The dispute is over two issues. The first is the demand that museum security staff should be on the E2 pay grade and not the only group of workers stuck on the E1 grade. The second issue relates to access to technical jobs at the INAEM cultural agency and the failure to recognise certain training and qualification. FSC-CCOO argues that the INAEM should be fully integrated into the IV

The main trade unions in public administration have negotiated a new agreement to tackle the persistent problem of temporary employment. Earlier agreements have indicated a target rate of only 8% of temporary contracts in public administration but the level remains around 30%. The new agreement sets out a range of preventative measures and sanctions on public administration employers to contribute to the reduction of temporary contracts and sets a date of 31 December 2024 for the target to be reached. There will be clear and restrictive criteria for when temporary employment is possible and

The public service federations in the CCOO and UGT confederations have set out a number of demands on the government to take effective measures solve the persistent problem of temporary employment in the public sector. As long ago as 2017 an agreement was negotiated to get temporary employment below 8% in the follow-up to legal rulings on excessive use of temporary contracts. The unions underline the importance of consolidating temporary staff into permanent positions taking account of their experience. The unions also want to see measures are taken that will ensure permanent reductions in

Six trade unions are coming together to take strike action over jobs and precarious employment in the public sector in the Basque region. The unions are responding to the failure of the regional government to address public employment and the persistently high levels of temporary contracts across the public sector. Action is planned for 22 April across all the main public services – municipalities, health, education, general administration, justice, public transport, public media and other sectors. The unions want to see the thousands of temporary workers who have been crucial to tackling the

The two main public service federations – FSC-CCOO and FesP-UGT – recently met with the public services minister to underline their concerns about precarious employment and urge action to implement existing agreements to curb the use of temporary contracts. The unions raised issues around staffing levels and the ageing public sector workforce but stressed that job insecurity was a major problem and that the proportion of workers on temporary contracts was still too high and had worsened in the response to the pandemic. The federations also called for action to remove any discrimination in the

Public sector trade union federations have written to the new minister for public services to initiate negotiations for a new agreement covering public sector workers. They argue that there is a range of new and long-standing issues that need to be addressed not least increasing the workforce, creating job stability and reducing the level of temporary employment. There are also the questions of recovering lost purchasing power, improving working conditions and career and professional classification. More and better training, implementing equality plans and occupational health are among the

Health and social care unions in the Basque region have been involved in a series of protests and strikes. Mobilisations in public health during December and January will culminate in a day of strike action on 28 January. The unions are angry about the failure of the public health system to honour basic rights to information and collective bargaining. They are concerned about the impact of the pandemic on the system and the way that management have responded by taking unilateral decisions on working conditions, health and safety and precarious employment. Two days earlier, on 26 January unions

The public sector federations of CCOO, UGT and CSIF have called on the government to take part in urgent talks to ensure the proper implementation of agreements on public sector employment and to negotiate a new agreement to cover the period 2021-23. The unions are particularly concerned to end any restrictions on public sector recruitment and to increase staffing and take action to reduce the level of temporary contracts from the current 24% to the agreed level of 8%. The unions also want to see further steps taken in a new agreement to ensure workers have any rights restored that were

The FSC-CCOO public services federation is organising a series of two-hour strikes in state museums and theatres in October and November. The union is protesting against the fact that workers in the sector are not properly covered by the collective agreement for the state sector. In particular, the union wants to ensure professional status for these workers and reduce the extent of temporary contracts. The strikes will begin on 25 October and will take place on 10 different dates up to 24 November with specific dates for different institutions.