Spain seeks bargaining framework

The two main Spanish union confederations, CCOO and UGT, met the main employers' association, CEOE, last month to discuss a new framework agreement for collective bargaining in 2005.

In a joint statement, both sides said they were starting from the experience of previous years, when pay has increased broadly in line with prices.

Discussions had previously been delayed because of disagreements over the uprating of the national minimum wage. With the government committed to above-inflation rises for the next few years, the unions have decided that this is not the time to press for automatic catch-up payments against the opposition of the CEOE.