The reform of collective bargaining in RDL 32/2021, of december 28

Abstract

The 2021 Labor Spanish Reform has modified the collective labor bargaining system in just two concrete aspects, but two very relevant aspects within the architecture of the system: the reduction of the scope of the application priority of the company agreements with respect to the sectoral agreement to avoid degradation of salary conditions in company agreements; and the reform of the indefinite ultraactivity to enhance the mechanisms of alternative solution and the return to the regime of indefinite retroactivity. Beyond that literal reading, a more complete interpretation considering the background of the norms, their purposes, their concordances with others of its same normative group, and the reality of the time in which they has to be applied, allows unraveling a less obvious element, but transcendental for the understanding of the reform of collective bargaining: the empowerment of collective autonomy and less control.