Spain publishes new bargaining data

The Spanish Ministry of Labour last month published new figures showing the proportion of employees covered by collective bargaining. The statistics indicate that 14.1 million Spanish workers have their pay and conditions set this way. This is 91.8% of all those employees whose terms are negotiated. The calculation excludes the self-employed, as well as civil servants, whose pay is set by law, and others such as those working in cooperatives and as ministers of religion, whose pay is not subject to collective bargaining.

There are some differences between employees in the level of coverage. For example, coverage is higher among men at 95.0% than among women at 88.2%. It is also higher in construction at 98.4% and industry at 97.5% than in services at 90.1%.

These are high figures, and this is partially explained by the fact that the vast majority, 12.5 million, have their terms set at a higher level than the company, typically for an industry or sector at provincial level. These agreements are then extended by law to all those working in this industry. Only 1.6 million are covered by company agreements.