On Wednesday the Spanish government covered itself when the CiU (Catalan Nationalist Party) and PNV made concessions just minutes before finalizing collective bargaining agreements.
The nationalist parties abstained from voting, precluding the government from passing the bill, and now they must compromise with nationalist parties on several issues before signing the bill into law.
Foremost among the issues is whether or not regional agreements will have primacy over federal agreements, a sine qua non condition that the PNV had thought about distancing itself from, because the PP thought that giving more power to regional governments would disrupt unity within the labor market.
To gain the CiU?s support, Spanish government promised that salaries would be tied to employee productivity and that they would try to inculcate greater internal flexibility on companies. The business lobby CEOE supported these measures.
These were the results of a frenetic morning of negotiations (with calls to a higher level and pressure from Brussels and the markets if the decree wouldn?t go through) that ended with 169 votes in favor of the PSOE and 20 abstentions from CiU, PNV and UPN. 151 members of the PP, the UPyD and other leftist groups voted against the bill.
Edited in English by Brandon Dyches and Jose L. De Haro (joseluisdeharo@eleconomista.es)
