Collective bargaining matters are highly case-specific, and you need a specialist in collective bargaining to define the boundaries of rights and obligations under a collective bargaining agreement or in agreements reached with employee representatives.
Written by Josep Conesa
Employment and insolvency lawyer
Below we summarise a series of cases in which case law defines the limits of collective bargaining:
Change of collective bargaining agreement:
COLLECTIVE MODIFICATION OF WORKING CONDITIONS. The company's decision to change the applicable collective bargaining agreement governing the employment relationship — thereby modifying working hours, the remuneration system, and salary levels — has been declared null and void. The company failed to invoke the existence of economic, technical, organisational or production-related grounds to justify the change. It merely submitted a document entitled "analysis of organisational and production processes", prepared by an economist, which concluded by identifying the collective bargaining agreement best suited to the company in accordance with its functional scope — a determination that falls outside the economist's area of competence.
The National Court upheld the claim brought by the trade union in respect of a collective dispute, and declared null and void the company's collective substantial modification of working conditions.
"A statutory collective bargaining agreement constitutes a legal norm forming part of the hierarchy of sources of employment law, in accordance with Article 3 of the Workers' Statute, and its application is not discretionary — it is binding on all employers and employees falling within its functional, personal and territorial scope, in accordance with Article 37(1) of the Spanish Constitution, read in conjunction with Article 82(3) of the Workers' Statute. It is settled and undisputed case law — see, among others, Supreme Court judgments of 10 July 2000 and 20 January 2009 (appeal no. 3737/2007) — as well as established judicial doctrine — see, among others, the ruling of the High Court of Justice (TSJ) of Cantabria of 12 September 2008 — that the applicable collective bargaining agreement is determined by the company's predominant activity."
