Collective Bargaining: Negotiation and Validity Essentials

Standing to Negotiate

• Enterprise Level or Lower Collective Agreements:
  • The works council or staff representatives
  • Union representatives seeking to represent the majority in the committee
  • Employers or their representatives
• Sectoral Collective Agreements:
  • The most representative trade unions at the state or autonomous community level
  • Trade unions with a minimum of 10% of members on the committee
  • Associations that have at least 10% of employers in the field of the agreement and represent at least 10% of workers in this field

Initiation of Negotiations

The party initiating negotiations must advise the other party in writing, stating the legitimacy of the initiator, the areas of agreement, and the parties involved in the negotiation. A copy must also be sent to the competent employment authorities. Within one month of receipt, a negotiating committee must be established. When the agreement is less than or at the business level, it is formed by representatives of workers and the employer. If the areas are higher than the company level, unions may constitute a committee having an absolute majority in the works council and employer representation.

Negotiation and Validity

The agreements of the commission require a majority of votes from each of the two parties to be valid. To be valid, the agreement must be submitted to the labor authorities within 15 days after its signing. The authorities will order the registration and publication in the Official Gazette within a period of 10 days. If it is deemed that the agreement is not legal, it can be contested in court.

Content of Collective Agreements

Normative Content

This governs the working conditions and is a source of employment law.

Obligational Content

This outlines the rights and obligations between the parties.

Matters Covered in Agreements

Economic matters, employment, labor, employment conditions, worker-management relations, welfare, working conditions and productivity, promotion measures, and obligations aimed at regulating social peace.

Minimum Requirements

• Determination of the parties who arrange the agreement
• Personal, functional, territorial, and temporal scope
• Clause on derogation or sagging
• Form and conditions of termination of the agreement
• Joint Commission of the negotiating parties