Change for Spain's bargaining rules

Government, unions and employers have started negotiations on a possible new structure for collective bargaining in Spain. The unions want a greater role for national level agreements, which would set a framework for negotiations at local level. They also want to explore how collective bargaining can be extended to new areas, both in terms of new sectors and to cover new types of work such as working on-line.

The employers, on the other hand, want to increase the importance of company-level agreements, as well as making it easier to introduce personal contracts for some groups of workers. They therefore oppose any new legal structures which would reduce the current level of flexibility in negotiations.

All sides want to have reached agreement on a new structure by September.