The Council of Ministers of Spain approved on Tuesday that regional and provincial labour agreements prevail over state ones. Thus, the government of Pedro Sánchez has opened the way to a historic demand of the Basque unions, with the agreement of the PNV.

The agreement between the PNV and the PSOE in December last year, within the negotiations for the investiture of Sánchez, was rejected by the Spanish Congress, which opposed the grant decree to Podemos. Now, since the moral parties consider that the new subsidy reform is valid, so will the labor agreements, almost certainly in Congress. However, the measure has entered into force immediately on Wednesday.

The labor agreements signed in Hego Euskal Herria have better conditions than the state, especially in terms of salaries and working hours, the prevalence of which has been a historical demand of the unions.

ELA says that the prioritization of Basque labor agreements by the Spanish Government is "the result of the struggles of Basque workers in the years" and recalls that two years ago he was willing to go to the general strike: "Today's decision cannot be understood without the positions of then", the union explained. In any case, ELA says that it has to analyze in detail all the contents of the grant decree and the labor agreements decree.

In this sense, LAB says that "more steps must be taken in the construction of its own framework". The union stresses that the December 2023 agreement raised doubts and transferred concrete proposals to the Ministry of Labour and political parties to improve the agreement: "Our critical readings and proposals have had a positive conclusion, improving the weaknesses that the previous text could have," he explains.

The agreement reached by the PNV with the Government of Spain gives greater certainty in the implementation in 2017 of the agreement signed by the trade union majority (CCOO, UGT, LAB and ELA) with the private employers of Confebask. The Basque labour agreements agreed to take precedence at that time, but without any legal guarantee, they remained nothing.

Now, the Spanish Workers' Statute, with the necessary modifications, contains the following sentence: "The conventions of the Autonomous Communities shall take precedence over the other sectoral or state conventions if the conditions are more favourable for workers".