Spain’s Ministry of Labour and the trade unions have together agreed to establish a separate legal status for company trainee workers. The aim of the text that is due to go to Parliament for approval is to regulate the length of the internships undertaken during official studies and limit those being undertaken outside training cycles. The employers' representatives have kept away from the current proceedings believing that the snap election called for 23 July will de facto stall any new legal initiatives.
The text, that was under negotiations with the social partners for more than a year establishes the “Status of persons undergoing practical non-professional training within the company”, known as the trainee status. While the text sets out trainees’ working conditions and rights, it does not address the issue of remuneration, since most internships in Spain are unpaid. For the Labour Ministry the purpose of the text is to “define the limits of internships, without any ambiguity, in order to...
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Article authors
Cécile Thibaud
Freelance