Andalusian trade unions adopt joint approach to collective bargaining

In the autonomous community of Andalusia in the south of Spain, the General Workers’ Confederation and the Trade Union Confederation of Workers’ Commissions have decided to jointly deal with all the processes of collective bargaining in 2007. Both organisations presented this action plan at the ‘Seminar on collective bargaining: proposals for progress’, held in the city of Seville in November 2006.

In the autonomous community of Andalusia in the south of Spain, the General Workers’ Confederation (Unión General de Trabajadores, UGT) and the Trade Union Confederation of Workers’ Commissions (Confederación Sindical de Comisiones Obreras, CC.OO) have decided to address all collective bargaining processes together in 2007. In November 2006, both organisations presented this action plan at the ‘Seminar on collective bargaining: proposals for progress’, held in the city of Seville.

In all, 317 agreements must be negotiated, which will affect 1.2 million Andalusian workers employed in 86,000 companies. In this joint strategy, UGT and CC.OO have agreed not to focus all of their efforts on pay bargaining, but rather on three fundamental dimensions of employment: stability, equality and occupational risk prevention. The Secretary General of UGT in Andalusia, Cándido Méndez, stated that ‘pay rises without measures to guarantee employment are simply a trap’.

Employment trends

The Andalusian community has experienced sustained employment growth. However, in 2006, unemployment increased by 1.1%, with the highest levels recorded in the provinces of Málaga and Cádiz, where tourism is partially seasonal. Moreover, the situation regarding the type of recruitment and the quality of the employment created presents more serious problems. UGT sources state that for every 100 new employment contracts created, 92 are temporary contracts and only five are permanent contracts. The trade unions highlight that the temporary employment rate is currently 46%, that the region still has the highest percentage of female unemployment at 61.9% and that there is a serious lack of job stability in the area. Although 90% of Andalusian workers enjoy regulated terms and conditions of work, the main economic activities in this region with the highest levels of job creation are construction and services – two sectors in which employment regulation is weak.

Measures to improve equality in employment

UGT and CC.OO want to demonstrate to employers that the sectors with the highest percentage of temporary recruitment are indeed the least competitive sectors and the ones that create the lowest profits. Furthermore, the trade unions intend to join forces to fight for equal pay and responsibilities for similar professional job categories. Their main objective is to standardise the sectors to prevent pay differences according to provinces. In this regard, the trade unions have called for the Confederation of Employers of Andalusia (Confederación de Empresarios de Andalucía, CEA) to standardise pay and employment criteria in order to avoid provincial differences in sectors such as agriculture and metalworking, where agreements are reached at local level. Moreover, the trade unions wish to introduce measures of positive discrimination for groups that are most at risk of labour market inequalities such as women and immigrants, and even more specifically young women or immigrant women within these groups.

At the seminar on collective bargaining, the literature circulated by the trade unions argued in favour of permanent recruitment as the first step in providing ‘stable’ employment, although it did not state how the stability should be gauged. Furthermore, the trade unions are in favour of policies of workforce rejuvenation based on partial retirement options accompanied by hand-over contracts and the elimination of successive employment contracts with the same workers, which is currently a relatively common practice in the hotels, restaurants and catering sector. The trade unions will also attempt to improve the legal status of temporary workers in order to better manage temporary employment; for example, they intend to pay greater attention to the reasons for the termination of employment or services contracts, as well as the promotion of fixed and discontinuous contracts.

Occupational risk prevention

Both trade unions agree on the shortcomings of some companies in the construction sector in terms of establishing safety measures. Therefore, they are calling for greater participation of employee representatives in the definition and implementation of health and safety policies, and a halt to the tendency to outsource their management. Furthermore, it seems that the trade unions will not question the widespread use of subcontracting in some sectors. Instead, they argue that the overall responsibility should lie with the main company, which means that they will be held accountable for failure to pay wages, social security contributions and industrial accidents. With regard to health, the trade unions aim to promote a clear definition of occupational illnesses, including psychosocial risks. Furthermore, in the wake of the Spanish strategy of health and safety at work, the unions aim to support the creation of regional and sectoral health and safety delegates.

Mari Luz Castellanos, CIREM Foundation