The first major business agreement of the current year shapes the shoe industry’s labor landscape. The Spanish Footwear Components Association (AEC) has reached a renewal with unions UGT and CC OO for the Leather and Shoe Goods Trade Collective Agreement covering 2022 through 2024. The joint salary increase totals 6.5%.
Sources from the employers’ association, led by Manuel Román, indicated that the deal was signed last Friday at the organization’s headquarters after the agreement was finalized this Monday.
The Tanning and Shoe Goods Trade agreement stands as one of three accords negotiated by the employers group and is central to the national government’s agenda for the Footwear Industry. It touches many operations, from the manufacture of insoles, cords, packs, or yarns to the distribution of footwear components like heels, soles, and plastic wedges. The scope includes companies involved in the commercialization of these items and related products. In the province, about 2,500 workers are affected, according to data from the AEC.
The association notes that this agreement brings stability at a moment of considerable uncertainty driven by the international context. Employers point to a fall in billing to levels seen in 2016, a consequence of the energy crisis and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, even as demand had somewhat recovered in late 2021 and the early months of 2022. Factories are now finding momentum again after pandemic disruptions.
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Given the current situation the agreement does not include a salary review clause despite unions pushing for it in many negotiations. It does provide a substantial salary uplift, with workers seeing 2.5 percent increases in 2022 and 2 percent in each of the years 2023 and 2024, resulting in a guaranteed 6.5 percent rise, a point emphasized by the AEC.
The renewal also integrates European Union led regulatory changes into the labor framework. These reforms aim to improve employment stability by aligning recruitment practices with current law and incorporating new developments around equality and telecommunications within the industry.
Additionally, some controversial clauses were clarified, including provisions related to paid licenses and permits, as well as rules on the compensation and absorption of supplements.
The signing ceremony occurred last Friday at the employers’ Alicante headquarters, with participation from Patricia Carrillo, secretary general of the CC OO Services Federation; Gabriel Gravel, FeSMC UGT Alicante head of the Trade Sector Collective Bargaining; Manual Novela, president of the AEC; and Alvaro Sanchez, the employers’ general manager.
State agreement
This marks the first footwear industry deal closed this year. Other state agreements covering the production of perennial products and heels remain in the negotiation phase.
Footwear workers are aiming for a 4 percent salary increase this year. Progress has been made in many areas of the state agreement, but wage negotiations are still stalled. The talks, which began in March, involve roughly 30,000 workers in the state. Unions proposed a 4 percent uplift for 2022 and a 3 percent increase plus a salary review clause for 2023 and 2024, a stance rejected by employers. Developments on this subject are anticipated in the coming weeks.
[Source: AEC]