Collective Bargaining Reform Approved

The Royal Decree-Law that has been approved seeks to reconcile the employers' associations' drive for greater flexibility with the trade unions' demands for wider collective bargaining rights.

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Written by Josep Conesa

Employment and insolvency lawyer

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Ultimately, the text shortens the negotiation deadlines for expired collective bargaining agreements and establishes arbitration as the final dispute resolution mechanism. Arbitration is thus positioned as one of the central tools for resolving collective labour disputes.

Deadlines for collective bargaining negotiations:

• 8 months for agreements with a duration of less than 2 years.
• 14 months for agreements with a duration of more than 2 years.

The reform offers three routes by which companies may opt out of their sector-level collective bargaining agreement:

• The opt-out clause (descuelgue), which must be justified by a forecast losses report.
• Through a substantial modification of working conditions, which may be individual or collective and follows the same procedure as before.
• Through a company-level collective bargaining agreement.

One of the most significant features of this reform is precisely the company-level collective bargaining agreement, which is now given greater prominence and will allow modifications to salary, working-hours distribution, functional mobility, and work-life balance measures.

Several issues have been left unresolved, including the linking of salary increases to productivity, the regulation of absenteeism, and the reform of the occupational accident and illness mutual insurance scheme. All of these matters may still be addressed during the parliamentary process, where this decree will be converted into legislation and will be subject to the amendment procedure in the Chamber.