Spain

The Council of Europe's Committee of Social Rights has supported many of the claims of violations of trade union rights brought by the CCOO and UGT union confederations against the government. The Committee says that the government has infringed the European Social Charter in relation to freedom of association; the right to strike; the level of the minimum wage; overtime pay; working time; holiday entitlement and notice periods. Overall the Committee notes seven breaches Spain's obligations under the charter. However, it also has reserved its opinion on various matters on which the government

A report by the UGT confederation reveals that the gender pay gap in public administrations is, for the first time, higher than the national average. The UGT report compares salaries between women and men over a life-course of a woman. The gap has reached 24% for those doing the same work or work of equal value. That means that a woman has to work 79 days more a year than her male colleague (nearly 25% more). A woman has to work 46 years in her working life in order to get the same salary, pension and unemployment benefits than her male colleague working 35 years. For first time the pay gap in

The FSS-CCOO and FSP-UGT federations have raised serious questions about effective consultation and collective bargaining in the national health service. The two union organisations withdrew from a recent meeting Consultative Committee of the national health service's Interterritorial Council because five issues on the agenda affecting employment and working conditions of health staff had not been properly dealt with in the appropriate national health service negotiations. [Read more at > FSP-UGT (ES)->http://www.fspugt.es/salud/1326-ugt-defiende-negociacion-colectiva-sanidad] [And at > FSS

The FES-CCOO services federation is calling for an increase in wages as part of a strategy to boost demand and create jobs. The union warns that with inflation down to 0.7% the country is at risk of a deflationary slump and there needs to be a concerted effort to win back the loss in real pay suffered since the crisis. In terms of the public services the federation wants to see an unfreezing of pay and recruitment, factors which have threatened the quality of services. The federation remains unconvinced of the Juncker investment plan and argues that something more substantial, like the ETUC 10

On 16 April the FSP-UGT public services federation organised a workshop to promote a range of tools to reduce the gender pay gap. The workshop was aimed at union activists involved in collective bargaining to encourage them to include specific measures in their collective agreements to address pay inequality. The initiative is in a response to the findings of a recent report by the UGT confederation which revealed that, for the first time, some parts of the public services are registering a large gender pay gap than the national average. [Read more at > FSP-UGT (ES)->http://www.fspugt.es/mujer

The FSP-UGT has just published a detailed report looking at developments in public services over the past four years. "Reduced public services, fewer rights and fewer jobs" provides details on the cuts in services in terms of both quality and coverage that have been the result of policies imposed by the government. Jobs have been slashed across the public sector with nearly 75000 gone from the autonomous regions, 40952 from local government, 41399 from central government and even 27848 from health services when most other countries are increasing employment in health. Public sector workers

Unions in the CCOO and UGT confederations have signed a three-year agreement covering more than 150,000 employees working in social services. The agreement covers pay and working conditions and will mean improvements for tens of thousands of employees. It also covers key issues such as job security, providing better protection than that afforded by the recently revised labour legislation. The sector has seen significant cuts with 15.6% fewer jobs since December 2010 and high rates of precarious employment. The agreement should help improve the situation. [Read more at > CCOO (ES)->http://www

Following a mobilisation outside the offices of the Director General of Public Administration, unions have secured an agreement to a meeting before June 15 to discuss a range of issues and prepare to convene negotiations in the General State Administration. The priority for the unions is to stop the destructive cuts in public employment which is leading to a collapse in services to citizens. They also want to recoup the loss of bonuses and the cuts and freezes in salaries over recent years. [Read more at > FES-CCOO (ES)->http://www.fsc.ccoo.es/webfsc/Inicio:849563--Exito_de_participacion_y

Health sector unions - FSP-UGT, FESS-CCOO and CSIF - have mounted a legal challenge to the Ministry of Health over its failure to engage in collective bargaining over key elements of working conditions. The Supreme Court has now accepted the legitimacy of the unions' appeal against a national court decision on their claim. The unions have questioned clinical management agreements and arrangements governing nursing staff and prescription drugs. The three unions have also been mobilising over the lack of collective bargaining over working conditions and the urgent need for more resources and

The FES-CCOO public service federation reports that its mobilisation of state sector workers on 28 May has had some results following a meeting between the unions and the Director General and the General Department of Industrial Relations. The meeting discussed the specific content of what would be a re-opening of negotiations between unions and the administration and would cover a number of issues including the state of public employment, the dangers of privatization, the urgent need to recruit to empty posts, the equality plan for the state sector, development of civil service legislation to

The FSP-UGT public service federation is calling on the government to agree to a proper process of collective bargaining over a planned major restructuring of local and regional government. The union warns that 300,000 jobs are at risk and that there needs to be negotiations not just to protect workers but also the services they provide. The federation is concerned that the government is pushing through the measures simply to save money irrespective of the impact on services. [Read more at > FSP-UGT (ES)->http://www.fspugt.es/FSPUGT_presenta_su_declogo_sindical_ante_el_anteproyecto_del_ley_de

The FSC-CCOO and FSP-UGT federations have criticised the failure of the FEMP - the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces - to respond to their call for an agreement to tackle the decline in collective agreement coverage in the sector and prevent that many collective agreements lapse without being renegotiated. In contrast, the unions welcome the agreement signed between the two unions, the CSIF union and the Regional Federation of Municipalities and Provinces in Castile and León. This accord recommends to local authorities in the region to renew collective agreements before 8 July

The FSC-CCOO and FSP-UGT trade union federations met with the FEMP local government employers on 26 June to discuss what action can be taken to protect collective agreements in the sector. The unions are concerned about implementation of law 3/2012 which will have the effect that any collective agreement that is not renewed by 7 July will be considered as no longer applicable. The unions put forwards four action points calling for the intensification of current negotiations, for use of dispute resolution where negotiations are blocked and for the inclusion of clauses stating that current

The FSC-CCOO and FSP-UGT public service federations are bitterly disappointed that the FEMP local government employers' organisation failed to act on the question of renewing collective agreements. New legislation means that collective agreements no renegotiated by 8 July automatically lapse. The unions had asked the FEMP to contact all its member organisations to encourage them to ensure that collective agreements were renegotiated or to go to dispute resolution in the case of a conflict or that a clause should be agreed that would maintain the agreement until a new one could be negotiated