Spain: regional collective agreements will take precedence over national collective agreements

One of the main strengths of the reform defended by the Minister of Labor is the review of the structure of collective bargaining in order to give businesses more flexibility.  It is in this respect that the text passed by the decree (see our dispatch No.  110398) gives precedence to company agreements over sectoral provincial agreements, whether or not they are more advantageous.  The removal of the provincial level, which covers about 70% of businesses, is supposed to “rejuvenate” the bargaining structure by providing it with two poles: proximity on the one hand, via company agreements, and a wider sectoral framework on the other, via sectoral national or regional agreements depending on the cases.  Indeed, the decree states that the precedence of company agreements can be temporarily suspended but only when existing national or regional interconfederal agreements explicitly rule out the negotiation of certain subjects at company level.
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providing it with two poles: proximity on the one hand, via company agreements, and a wider sectoral framework on the other, via sectoral national or regional agreements depending on the cases. Indeed, the decree states that the precedence of company agreements can be temporarily suspended but only when existing national or regional interconfederal agreements explicitly rule out the negotiation of certain subjects at company level.

The agreement negotiated at the last minute by the Basque and

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