News on the XXI Collective Agreement of the Chemical Industry

A few weeks ago, a pre-agreement was reached on the XXI General Convention of the Chemical Industry (CGIQ) of which we informed in our previous publication.

Fort the Collective Agreement to apply, it is necessary that it passes a legality control by the labor authority, and that it is published in the official gazette. This has not yet happened, so the agreement, including the increases for 2024 and 2025, are not yet enforceable.

The publication of the agreement seems to be delayed, both because of the correction of some terms at the request of the labor authority, and because the union UGT has judicially challenged the Collective Agreement, requesting its voidance and its declaration as non-statutory (which would entail that it does not apply to all employees in the Company).

If this challenge was successful, the agreement would only affect the companies associated with the signatory company association (FEIQUE) and to the employees affiliated with the signatory union (CCOO).

In this context, we want to make the following recommendations:

• If your company is already applying the salary increases under the contested Collective Agreement, it would be advisable to inform the employees that these amounts are being paid in the understanding that the Collective Agreement will be valid, but the company reserves the right to deduct these amounts depending on the result of the challenge.
• That you inform the employees that the salary increases that you are already paying, even though the collective agreement has not yet been published, must be considered as payments "on account" of the Collective Agreement.

If, for any reason, the Collective Agreement were published, it would also be advisable to pay the increases with the warnings that they are made under the Collective Agreement, and not as a mere business initiative.