Spain - Collectively agreed pay rises outpace inflation - December 31, 2025

New data on collective bargaining showed that agreed wage tables in registered collective agreements were rising by around 3.5% on average in 2025. Unions argue the headline figure still hides large differences between sectors and does not automatically restore purchasing power for workers hit by higher prices in previous years. Trade unions used the publication to press employers for stronger wage clauses and for faster bargaining in sectors with lower coverage. The debate also fed into end‑of‑year discussions about 2026 wage guidelines, with unions stressing the need for automatic review clauses (cláusulas de revisión) to cope with sudden increases of inflation.

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For more information, please contact Paul de Beer or Oana Ciuca, De Burcht (Scientific Bureau for the Dutch Trade Union Movement) p.t.debeer@uva.nl or the Head of communications at the ETUI, Mehmet Koksal mkoksal@etui.org. For previous full issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit https://www.etui.org/Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter or consult the archive with all articles in our database at www.cbnarchive.eu. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org.