Following more than eight months of talks, social partners appear to have thrown in the towel. Unless there is a late twist, there will be no framework agreement on wages to guide collective negotiations in 2017. Employers and trade unions had given themselves until the end of July to find some middle ground. However, the most recent talks have ended in failure. The trade unions have warned of a difficult autumn in terms of industrial relations and have expressed their intention to work, from September, to establish an agreement in 2018. It is the first time that social partners have failed to reach such a deal, with the agreement having been periodically renewed over the last 20 years. The failure appears all the stranger since it comes at a time when an economic recovery appears to have taken hold in the country. Employers and unions had been quicker to reach agreements during the period of recession, despite the greater industrial complexity.
The CCOO and UGT unions were proposing a wage increase of between 1.8% and 3%, which was geared towards helping workers make up some of the ground they had lost during the crisis. They also demanded a wage adjustment clause, so that workers’ purchasing power could be guaranteed in the case of inflation. It was the latter demand which employer representatives were unable to accept.
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