Collective Bargaining, Privatisation, Spain

The FSC-CCOO and FeSP-UGT public service federations met with the FEMP local government employers’ organisation on 12 December to agree a framework for negotiations and on setting up an observatory of the public service in local administrations. The trade unions are keen to address a range of issues including training, equality plans, occupational reclassification, digitalisation, job creation, the ageing of the workforce, the improvement and the expansion of services. The aim of the observatory will be to undertake studies and identify good practices in relation to the development of public

Following their national protest on 22 November, the FSC-CCOO, FesP-UGT and other unions in the Ministry of Justice have taken further action to support their demand for negotiations around the law on organizational efficiency in the justice service. They want to ensure protection of the pay and working conditions of civil servants. The unions are concerned about the impact on jobs, careers and opportunities for promotion and the level of services to citizens. The unions organised actions at Ministry of Justice offices around the country and have not ruled out strike action if there is no

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 public service federations in the UGT and CCOO confederations welcome the fact that their demands for public sector pay negotiations have been agreed by the government. The unions want a multiannual agreement that allows for the maintenance of purchasing power and, in particular, an increase this year on top of the 2% pay increase imposed by the government. CCOO and UGT want to see action to correct the long-term decline in purchasing power across the public sector, with foreign service personnel, for example not seeing an increase for 14 years. The unions want to ensure that the new

The FeSP-UGT federation and the public sector unions in the CCOO confederation have strongly restated their calls for urgent negotiations over the pay and conditions of public sector workers. The CCOO union organised a demonstration outside parliament on 14 July while the FeSP-UGT is planning mobilisations in September if the government doesn’t respond. The unions want to see the reversal of cuts imposed during the period of austerity in 2010-12 and a range of improvements including wage increases that ensure recovery of lost purchasing power. Other key demands include an end to the

The public service federations within the CCOO confederation have denounced the lack of negotiation of the general state budgets for 2022. They have also criticised the 2% increase imposed on public service workers for 2022 as completely insufficient. The federations have called for negotiations to start on a new multi-year salary agreement that guarantees the maintenance of purchasing power. The last three-year agreement (2018-2020) led to some progress towards restoring pay after the cuts and freezes of the austerity years. Along with pay the unions want to see other urgent measures

On 22 March trade unions, including FSS-CCOO and FeSP-UGT, will begin a joint campaign of mobilization of staff at the Labour and Social Security Inspectorate. It aims to put pressure on the government to abide by a collective agreement that was signed last year. The unions want action to address staff and material shortages that are having a major impact on service delivery. It argues that that the government needs to recognise the efforts made by staff in recent years to maintain the service and the fact that many workers are facing burnout. Demonstrations are planned across the country on

The ETUC joined the CCOO and UGT trade union confederations in a meeting with European Commission Vice-President Dombrovskis to ensure that Spain’s recovery plan would not be subject to austerity conditions. The government is proposing a labour reform that would reverse a 2012 law, which pushed down wages by ending sectoral collective bargaining in favour of weaker company level deals. In a newspaper interview which came in the middle of social dialogue between trade unions and employers on the issue, Dombrovskis appeared to oppose the reform. Following the meeting the ETUC felt reassured that

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 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

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

The CCOO-Sanidad health union has negotiated another new collective agreement following on from its success reported in the last issue of the newsletter. Around 900 workers employed by the CIBER network of biomedical research institutions will be covered by a new agreement that will run until June 2022. The agreement will mean standardisation of pay and conditions for this group of workers and it will set out their rights in relation to pay, leave, relocation, working time and telework, the right to training and the target of limiting temporary contracts to 8% of the workforce.

Following a meeting of the general negotiating group covering public administrations, the FSC-CCOO public services union criticised the government for failing to ensure consultation with the trade unions over the working conditions of three million public sector unions before publishing the budget. The union also called for action on the 35-hour week, an end to replacement rates in staff recruitment, a guarantee on the pay increase linked to economic growth, action on the gender pay gap and an extension of paternity leave across the public administration.