Spain: Correos signs collective agreement

On April 5th, unions and management signed the new agreement regulating, until 2013, the working conditions of over 60,000 employees in the postal company.  The agreement includes the 3rd collective agreement of Correos’ non civil servant staff, who account for over 60% of the workforce, and the sectoral agreement for mailmen under the regime of civil servants.  Unions are satisfied with a text they feel includes most of their claims, notably the reestablishment of the rights linked to the civil servant status, lost with the previous agreement of 2006, and the re-introduction of more transparency in recruitment and the transformation of temporary jobs into permanent ones.  The UGT union welcomed an agreement “rectifying the deregulation introduced in 2006.”  CCOO thinks the agreement “shows employees’ will, commitment and involvement for the viability of the public operator, just when Correos is facing the total liberalization of the market with the arrival of national and international operators within the framework of the severe crisis the country is going through.”  Here are the key measures, in addition to wage measures, contained in this agreement.