PSOE and PNV agreed to reform the Workers’ Charter within a period of six months, within the framework of the agreement to appoint Pedro Sánchez as Head of Government. regional agreements may prevail over sectoral or state agreements.If it benefits the worker.
It is an old demand of Basque nationalists that regional agreements prevail over sectoral agreements. The same goes for the ERC, which, like the PNV, is trying to include itself in the recent labor reform promoted by vice president and Minister of Labor Yolanda Díaz. Both PNV and ERC voted against the reform (as did EH-Bildu, CUP, BNG, PP, Vox, UPN and Foro Asturias).
In fact, as PNV president Andoni Ortuzar reminded this Friday, the failure to include the ubiquity of the autonomous agreement was the reason that led Basque nationalists to vote against labor reform. “You’ll remember that was the obstacle that prevented us from voting in favor of labor reform; it was impossible at the time, because now we’ve achieved it,” he said.
Reform
HE investment and legislative agreement The signature of Pedro Sánchez and Andoni Ortuzar includes a commitment to “amend Articles 84.3 and 84.4 of the Workers’ Regulations within six months.”
In particular, the conclusion of collective agreements and interprofessional agreements negotiated within the scope of an autonomous community according to law is accepted.application will have priority They agree that “on any other sectoral agreement or state-level agreement” as long as they obtain the necessary majorities and “their arrangements are more favorable to workers than those established in the state agreements or agreements”.
However, the text signed by PSOE and PNV limits issues that are “non-negotiable within the autonomous community”. Thus the “trial period, contract methodsprofessional classification, maximum working days per yeardisciplinary regime, prevention of occupational risks and minimum standards on geographical mobility” will not be the subject of regional agreements.
The current situation
Currently, the collective bargaining system provides for state agreements to prevail over others and then be structured through state agreements. If the employers and unions most representative in a particular area wish to negotiate their own autonomous contracts, They must request prior authorization from their state representatives. There needs to be consensus between employers and unions, at the risk of the conflict becoming legalized, as was the case recently with the Catalan geriatric agreement.
UGT and CCOO call for social dialogue
After learning of the terms of the agreement between PSOE and PNV, the CCOO and UGT unions issued a joint statement in which they pointed out that any reforms affecting collective bargaining “must be considered”. within the framework of social dialogue. “The structure of collective bargaining is an issue that clearly affects the autonomy of the negotiating parties, and therefore legal changes to the Workers’ Regulations need to be addressed within the framework of social dialogue,” say the CCOO and UGT.
Both union centers “advocate the coexistence of different regional collective bargaining areas, which should be expressed according to each sectoral reality” and understand that “autonomous frameworks are compatible with state frameworks, and the rationalization of provincial collective bargaining areas can also be encouraged.” “.
The union’s statement says CCOO and UGT will call on the next Government to “define this legal change at the negotiating tables, as this is an issue that has not been addressed within the scope of labor reform.”