The labor reform of 2012 introduced a substanial modification of Article 86.3 of the Workers Statute related to the legal system for extending collective agreements in force until then.

The new wording states that when a statutory collective agreement is legally challenged (1), it will remain in effect for no more than one year, unless the agreement itself has a specific provision to the contrary, and the introduction of compulsory arbitration (2) for the settlement of conflicts once the negotiation process has been exhausted.

The preliminary agreement for the Monitoring Commission of the 2nd Agreement for Employment and Collective Bargaining on the extension of collective agreements, signed on May 21 by CEOE, CEPYME, CCOO and UGT, signalled the possibility of reaching specific agreements on extension, including during the negotiating stage of the new agreement. This would occur when one of the parties, the unions or the company, decides that the negotiation has been exhausted, resorting to arbitration, the decision of which would have the same legal effect as a collective agreement. That said, we can find agreements that were extended past July 7 but which finally were submitted to arbitration.

The fact that it finalizes a collective agreement can produce different effects. The first would be that it would automatically be substituted by one from a higher level, usually the state level.

The second and most damaging undoubtedly would be that with the loss of regulatory clauses, the company would pretend to downgrade working conditions, including wages as regulated in the Workers Statutes. This is already a reality in many companies continues but it is still irregular since the terms and conditions agreed in previous conventions have become part of the employment contract, ie there has been a process of contracting conditions, both economic and the conditions governed by the collective agreement, although this effect is lost. This is easily explained, since a collective agreement can only be replaced by another agreement, either in the same field or in higher level. We should ignore what was published in the press and in certain circles that seek to give by the way, the possibility of reducing the conditions to the Workers Statute. The possibility that changes occur should then pass through a substantial modification of working conditions through Article 41 of the Workers Statute.

Another situation would be the contracts made once the collective agreement expired where the company legally could degrade working conditions to minimum in the Workers' Statute. This continues to be a common practice in collective agreements that discriminate contracted and temporary workers. Temporary conditions are harsh in themselves, with even worse working conditions, longer hours, irregularity of the working day, lower pay and benefits. The only way to protect contracted and temporart workers or new recruits will be signing a new enterprise or workplace agreement.

No doubt this is a change in working conditions that will require greater conflict within firms, and less in all the sectors with the decline in provincial agreements.

It is a propitious time to see a serious union model, coherent, and assertive, able to provide solutions and alternatives to specific problems in companies, such as the CNT, and this goes through the daily struggle.

CNT is your tool of struggle. Organize!

The Confederal Committee of the CNT Secretariat

The Legal Secretary

1 ie settle a negotiation for the signing of a new agreement to replace the previous.

2 Probably this obligation of arbitration will be declared unconstitutional as it violates collective autonomy, in addition to violating the principle of freedom of association.Assessment of the Consequences of the Extended Validity of Collective Agreements for the Workers

The labor reform of 2012 introduced a substanial modification of Article 86.3 of the Workers Statute related to the legal system for extending collective agreements in force until then.

The new wording states that when a statutory collective agreement is legally challenged (1), it will remain in effect for no more than one year, unless the agreement itself has a specific provision to the contrary, and the introduction of compulsory arbitration (2) for the settlement of conflicts once the negotiation process has been exhausted.

The preliminary agreement for the Monitoring Commission of the 2nd Agreement for Employment and Collective Bargaining on the extension of collective agreements, signed on May 21 by CEOE, CEPYME, CCOO and UGT, signalled the possibility of reaching specific agreements on extension, including during the negotiating stage of the new agreement. This would occur when one of the parties, the unions or the company, decides that the negotiation has been exhausted, resorting to arbitration, the decision of which would have the same legal effect as a collective agreement. That said, we can find agreements that were extended past July 7 but which finally were submitted to arbitration.

The fact that it finalizes a collective agreement can produce different effects. The first would be that it would automatically be substituted by one from a higher level, usually the state level.

The second and most damaging undoubtedly would be that with the loss of regulatory clauses, the company would pretend to downgrade working conditions, including wages as regulated in the Workers Statutes. This is already a reality in many companies continues but it is still irregular since the terms and conditions agreed in previous conventions have become part of the employment contract, ie there has been a process of contracting conditions, both economic and the conditions governed by the collective agreement, although this effect is lost. This is easily explained, since a collective agreement can only be replaced by another agreement, either in the same field or in higher level. We should ignore what was published in the press and in certain circles that seek to give by the way, the possibility of reducing the conditions to the Workers Statute. The possibility that changes occur should then pass through a substantial modification of working conditions through Article 41 of the Workers Statute.

Another situation would be the contracts made once the collective agreement expired where the company legally could degrade working conditions to minimum in the Workers' Statute. This continues to be a common practice in collective agreements that discriminate contracted and temporary workers. Temporary conditions are harsh in themselves, with even worse working conditions, longer hours, irregularity of the working day, lower pay and benefits. The only way to protect contracted and temporart workers or new recruits will be signing a new enterprise or workplace agreement.

No doubt this is a change in working conditions that will require greater conflict within firms, and less in all the sectors with the decline in provincial agreements.

It is a propitious time to see a serious union model, coherent, and assertive, able to provide solutions and alternatives to specific problems in companies, such as the CNT, and this goes through the daily struggle.

CNT is your tool of struggle. Organize!

The Confederal Committee of the CNT Secretariat

The Legal Secretary

1 ie settle a negotiation for the signing of a new agreement to replace the previous.

2 Probably this obligation of arbitration will be declared unconstitutional as it violates collective autonomy, in addition to violating the principle of freedom of association.