Comparisons between countries have become a trend, increasingly automatic. Through statistics, studies and reports, in many cases drawn up by international organisations, we have developed the habit of comparing ourselves, usually to highlight the deficiencies of a particular model, accompanying the criticisms with a series of recommendations to, in many cases, effectively undermine the sovereignty of a nation.
Collective bargaining models do not escape this comparison. Two variables are usually analysed: the percentage of trade union membership among workers and the rate of coverage of collective agreements in the total working population - i.e. how many people are protected by a collective agreement and how many are left out, with only the basic rules of the legal system to protect them.
Spain has a high rate of coverage of collective agreements despite the low union membership of its workers. This is due to a model of collective bargaining and trade union participation that understands that the protection of labour rights goes beyond paying a trade union fee, and must be extended equally to everyone in a company or sector. Thus, a ‘top down’ model of protection was constructed that allowed, on the one hand, strong representation at state and provincial level and, on the other hand, below that and in a complementary manner, enterprise-level agreements to improve on the provisions of these higher-level agreements.
Between the 1980s and the first decade of this millennium, a solid model of labour relations was built, which provided legal certainty and a healthy and appropriate framework, where all companies in the same sector or activity had to comply with a collective bargaining agreement negotiated through their employers’ national centres with the most representative trade unions, thus establishing a dialogue between valid partners that brought, above all, social peace.
The labour reform introduced unilaterally in 2012 by a conservative and ultra-liberal government was aimed at deregulating labour relations by weakening the power of collective bargaining.
Thus, with measures that allowed companies to bring down working conditions to below what was set by the sectoral agreement of reference or by eliminating the ultra-active status of the agreement – a clause that guarantees that an agreement will continue to apply until the next one is signed – we switched to a business model based on ‘social dumping’ and on the promotion of contracts and subcontracts that offered the cheap outsourcing of services, owing to the savings in the staffing costs this achieved by means of junk agreements. This entrenched a despotic model of labour relations in which total control lay with the company, destroying any pre-existing balance in this field.
The constant loss of rights and the social injustice of the last ten years explain the vital importance of the labour reform approved by the Spanish Congress of Deputies at the beginning of February.
First, it is important because it is an agreement reached through social dialogue, demonstrating that trade unions and employers’ organisations are capable of reaching agreements for common progress. Second, it is important because the attack on collective bargaining has been reversed and it has once again become the central means of settling labour relations. In fact, this reform is the cornerstone of a line of work and a way of understanding relations between workers and companies that began in March 2020 when, at the height of the pandemic, substantial changes were introduced when it came to agreeing and establishing health protection/containment measures in the workplace. The parties were invited to seek solutions jointly, and reach agreements, which has yielded unprecedented results in terms of economic and productive recovery.
This path, which began in search of greater dialogue within companies and agreed working conditions, has culminated in the labour reform which has brought three major changes: the recovery of the ultra-active status of collective agreements; the introduction of the primacy of the sector agreement, which means that we are returning to the model of top down collective agreements, where there is protection and the establishment of minimum standards from above, which can only be modified at company level if it is to improve conditions for workers; and, finally, the introduction of the NETWORK mechanism, a measure to contain job losses at times of economic difficulty for the company, through a negotiation process that provides social guarantees.
All this will culminate in 2022 with the introduction of a law announced by the Spanish government that will establish measures to achieve the greater co-determination of companies, i.e. the greater participation of workers in the future of the company and in their future employment.
The most interesting conclusion, looking to the future, is that it proves the compatibility and direct relationship between progress on labour rights, stronger collective bargaining and participation, and economic recovery and job creation. This is, undoubtedly, a new paradigm that dismantles any neoliberal theories in this regard and can serve as an example that could trigger changes in the policies of other countries.
