Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2019, published 109th ILC session (2021)

Working Conditions (Hotels and Restaurants) Convention, 1991 (No. 172) - Spain (Ratification: 1993)

The Committee notes the observations of the Trade Union Confederation of Workers’ Commissions (CCOO) and the General Union of Workers (UGT), received on 2 and 7 August 2018, respectively. The Committee also notes the observations of the Spanish Confederation of Employers’ Organizations (CEOE), included in the Government’s report. The Committee also notes the Government’s replies to these observations.

Article 8 of the Convention. Application of the Convention. The Committee notes the detailed information provided by the Government in relation to changes in the regulation of working conditions in the tourism and hospitality sector. The Government refers, among other things, to the adoption of Royal Legislative Decree No. 2/2015 of 23 October, adopting the revised text of the Workers’ Charter, sections 34 to 38 of which regulate working time. In particular, the Committee notes that section 34(2) of the Workers’ Charter provides that “by collective agreement or, in the absence of such an agreement, by agreement between the enterprise and the workers’ representatives, the uneven distribution of working time may be established throughout the year. In the absence of an agreement, the enterprise may distribute 10 per cent of working time unevenly throughout the year.” In this regard, the CCOO maintains that accorded to the enterprise, under the Workers’ Charter to distribute such a high percentage of working hours unilaterally effectively reduces its incentive to conclude an agreement or accord. The Committee also notes the adoption of the Royal Legislative Decree No. 16/2013 of 20 December, which establishes measures to promote stable employment and improve the employability of workers. The Decree introduces amendments to the regulations governing the working conditions of part-time workers, such as the obligation to record their working hours, the prohibition on working additional hours when their contracts are for less than ten hours per week (calculated on an annual basis) and the prohibition on working overtime (except in specific cases covered in section 35(3) of the Workers’ Charter). The CCOO, for its part, points out that while overtime is prohibited, the new legislation provides for the possibility of working voluntary additional hours. The CCOO condemns the reduction of the notice period for additional hours from seven to three days and potentially even less, if agreed by collective agreement, including by agreement with the enterprise. It also points out that the Royal Decree removes the legal obligation to include the distribution of working hours agreed in the contract. The Committee notes, on the other hand, that the CCOO and the UGT refer once again to section 41(1) of the Workers’ Charter, which grants employers unilateral power to modify working conditions substantially for economic, technical, organizational or production-related reasons. They allege that the section in question allows employers to modify unilaterally important aspects of working conditions, such as working time, the remuneration system and wage rates.

With regard to the collective agreements concluded in the sector, the Government announces the signature of the National Agreement for the hotel sector (ALEH V) on 25 March 2015 by the representative employers’ and workers’ organizations in the sector. The Government indicates that ALEH V envisages, inter alia, the conclusion of appropriate subsectoral state agreements linked to it, and the creation of a professional card to promote employability and professionalism in the sector. The Committee also notes the information in the Government’s report relating to the various collective agreements concluded in the hotel and tourism sector at the regional and provincial levels between 2011 and 2017. However, the CCOO regrets the decline in the number of sectoral collective agreements in the hotel and catering sector, since in August 2018 only 69 per cent of workers in the sector were covered by a valid sectoral collective agreement. Among the reasons for this decline, the CCOO and the UGT refer once again to section 84(2) of the Workers’ Charter, which provides that the application of enterprise agreements shall have priority with respect to sectoral collective agreements, especially in relation to wage rates, hours of work and paid annual holiday. The CCOO and the UGT claim that, consequently, working conditions in the sector have deteriorated. They further claim that the outsourcing of activities in the sector through multiservice enterprises, which apply enterprise agreements in order to cut costs, affecting women in particular (mainly hotel housekeepers), has increased. In this regard, the CCOO indicates that since 2015, the courts have rescinded a large number of such agreements in whole or in part as unlawful. In its reply, the Government refers to the “Master Plan for Decent Work 2018–2020”, which includes the implementation of various measures to monitor compliance with the law in areas such as overtime, wages and part-time contracts, and strengthens monitoring of the legality of the agreements concluded in the sector. Lastly, the Committee notes the statistical information provided by the Government on violations observed with regard to hours of work and rest and to wages during the labour inspections carried out between 2013 and 2017 by the Labour and Social Security Inspectorate. In this respect, the CEOE contends that the assistance provided by the labour inspection services on knowledge of standards and its proper application should be strengthened, and the involvement of the social partners in the planning of inspection activity should be promoted, in order to ensure its effectiveness. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide detailed and updated information on the application of the Convention in practice, including sectoral and enterprise collective agreements, extracts from inspection reports, court decisions and data on the number of workers covered by the measures that give effect to the Convention, disaggregated by sex and age, as well as the number and nature of violations reported. The Committee also requests the Government to send detailed and updated information on the manner in which workers employed in hotels and restaurants are affected by the most recent amendments to the Workers’ Charter, including the number and terms of agreements negotiated as well as provide their copies.

Hotel housekeepers. The Committee notes that the Government indicates that hotel housekeepers are one of the groups most affected by new, decentralized forms of work which often lead to significant wage reductions. In this context, the Committee notes the meeting convened by the Employment and Social Security Committee on 19 April 2018 to explain the employment situation of hotel housekeepers in Spain. Representatives of various workers’ organizations in the sector appeared before the Senate to provide information on and present proposals for the improvement of their working conditions. The Committee notes that, according to the report of the aforementioned Senate session, hotel housekeepers (also called hotel cleaners or “Kellys”) are workers, mostly women immigrants, who clean hotel rooms and common areas of hotels. During the session, it was emphasized that these workers have seen their working conditions deteriorate, due to the growth of outsourcing in the sector through multiservice companies, and the increase in temporary recruitment by temporary employment agencies. During the meeting, the difficulty of hotel housekeepers in organizing themselves in trade unions, losses of more than 40 per cent of wages, losses of established social benefits and sectoral agreements and increased workloads over shorter shifts were highlighted. The Committee also notes that on 30 August 2018, the round table on quality employment in the hotel sector, in which the social partners participated, approved the recognition of occupational diseases related to the work performed by hotel housekeepers. Lastly, the Committee notes that the UGT reports cases of the sale and purchase of employment by purported training companies that offer access to employment as hotel housekeepers in exchange for a fee. The Committee requests the Government to provide detailed and updated information on the application in practice of the Convention relating to hotel housekeepers. It also requests the Government to provide information in reply to the allegations regarding cases of the sale and purchase of employment as hotel housekeepers (Article 7).