Spain: government prepares its social agenda and will revisit 2012 legislation on collective bargaining

Six weeks after coming to power, Socialist PM Pedro Sanchez’s team is looking to stamp its mark on its social agenda by way of defining a roadmap for work related regulation. The minority government’s room for maneuver is narrow in so far as it is reliant on a number of different parliamentary groups, each with individual priorities, and will have to find some common ground between the demands from Podemos allies and those from the right-wing nationalist Basques and Catalans. Notwithstanding, the PM has laid out priorities as regards combatting black market work, precarious employment, and fraudulent recruitment practices, as well as indicating the desire to strengthen collective negotiations.
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Revisiting key points of the 2012 labor reform. PM Pedro Sanchez’s ‘Agenda for Change’ is revisiting some essential points of the country’s 2012 labor reform legislation (c.f. article No. 120125). Trade unions continue to oppose the flexibility that was introduced in 2012 at the peak of the economic crisis. As such they welcome the new government’s position and are calling for the law itself to be annulled. The government however has indicated it prefers to proceed with a more targeted cautious approach.

Regional and sector agreements have precedence over company agreements. The government is looking to reaffirm that sector and regional collective agreements take precedence over company agreements for issues including the definition of working time and salary frameworks.

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