Spain signed a new employment and collective bargaining agreement for improving working conditions for workers and the competitiveness of companies

On 10 May 2023, social partners signed the V Agreement for Employment and Collective Bargaining (V Acuerdo para el Empleo y la Negociación Colectiva, AENC).
It was signed by all the trade unions CCOO and UGT and the employers' associations CEOE and CEPYME.
It aims to enrich the content of collective bargaining and adapt it to the changes and realities in the labour market, as well as to address content that contributes to tackling structural problems such as inequality between women and men or preserving the health and safety of workers.
The V AENC will be in force from 2023 to 2025.

The agreement firstly refers to employment and recruitment matters that the Labour Reform recently enacted mandates for their development through collective bargaining to consolidate the objectives of employment stability.

It also addresses the criteria for determining wage increases in the years 2023 to 2025 as well as specific recommendations on the wage structure.

The main measures in the agreement are as follows:

- Remuneration: It sets a 4 per cent wage increase for 2023 and 3 per cent by 2025.

- Employment and hiring: Developing the references made to collective bargaining in the law, the agreement calls for the appropriate use of contractual arrangements (open-ended-discontinuous, fixed-term, part-time, hiring of young people and people undergoing retraining);

- Internal flexibility: Collective bargaining should regulate criteria, causes, and procedures in applying flexibility measures with the participation of workers' representatives.

- Teleworking: Collective agreements or contracts must assume and develop teleworking as a work organisation under Law 10/2021 of 9 July on distance working ('LTD').

- Digital disconnection: Collective agreements must guarantee the right to digital disconnection, including for those offering services through new forms of work organisation (remote work, flexible working hours, etc.).

- Gender equality: The agreement aims to promote effective equality between men and women in the workplace through measures to combat wage discrimination and the gender gap.

- Diversity and LGTBI: Collective bargaining must provide equal working conditions for persons with disabilities and create inclusive and safe workplaces, as well as workplaces free of violence and sexual and gender-based harassment.

- Digital and technological transition in the workplace: Through participatory processes and prior information of social representation, ensure that the use of artificial intelligence ("AI") systems follows the principle of human control and is safe, transparent, and understandable.

- Ecological transition: Promote training and information lines to ensure the involvement of employees in adopting measures to tackle climate change.

The agreement does not apply directly to labour relations but sets out recommendations for the negotiators of the different collective agreements.