Spanish unions win concessions

Major concessions by the Spanish government on its plans to cut support to rural workers led the two main trade union confederations, the CCOO and the UGT, to call off last month's strike.

Under the new arrangements agreed with the unions, agricultural workers in the country's Andalucia and Extremadura regions will continue to have individual rights to payment during periods when they are not working, provided they meet certain conditions. These payments will in turn provide access to sick pay and old age pensions, a key concern for the unions.

Although not meeting all the union demands, the government concessions were sufficient to allow the unions to call off the strike set for 20 February.

This means that the government has now retreated on all the changes that it announced in May 2002. Changes to unemployment benefit and redundancy rules were abandoned last October after a general strike in June 2002.

However, another argument is opening up as a result of government plans to extend the period of earnings over which pensions are calculated.