Spain - Union confederation expects labour accord - April 22, 2010

The Secretary General of CCOO, one of the two major union confederations, has told a press agency that his confederation will likely sign an accord with employers about labour reforms in the first half of May. Ignacio Fernández Toxo said that the agreement will focus on a reduction in working hours, an overhaul of hiring incentives as well as measures to incorporate youth workers and the long-term unemployed into the workforce, adding “We have more than four million unemployed in Spain and at least some of them could have been spared if some measures such as a reduction of the working day had been introduced earlier.” An initial agreement between unions and employers is seen as a first step for the introduction of labour reforms by the government.

English: http://www.forexyard.com/en/news/Spains-largest-union-expects-labour-accords-in-May-2010-04-22T095642Z-INTERVIEW

This article was published in the Collective Bargaining Newsletter. It aims to facilitate information exchange between trade unions and to support the work of ETUC's collective bargaining committee. For more information, please contact the editor Maarten van Klaveren, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) M.vanKlaveren@uva.nl. You may find further information on the ETUI atwww.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2009.