Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2024, published 113rd ILC session (2025)

Dock Work Convention, 1973 (No. 137) - Spain (Ratification: 1975)

Articles 2, 3, 5 and 6 of the Convention. National policy to promote permanent or regular employment for dockworkers. Registered dockworkers. Cooperation between the social partners. Vocational training. New legislation and practice. The Committee notes the detailed information provided by the Government in response to its previous comments, in particular regarding the new legislative and regulatory framework in force concerning the employment system for dockworkers in the country’s ports since its last report in 2017. The Committee recalls that, following the ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) of 11 December 2014 in case C-576/13, Royal Decree No. 8/2017 of 12 May 2017 amended the system for workers engaged in the provision of cargo-handling services by providing for the freedom of operators to engage dockworkers for the provision of cargo-handling services in ports, certain requirements relating to the vocational training of dockworkers, and the establishment of port employment centres to ensure the regular employment of dockworkers and, finally, entrusting collective bargaining with the adaptation of collective agreements to the new legal provisions. The Committee further notes the information provided by the Government on the legislative and regulatory amendments made between 2018 and 2022, which contain clarifications on the implementation of the new system.

The Committee also notes the indication regarding the registration and publication, through the Decision of the General Directorate of Labour of 4 May 2022, of the Fifth Agreement regulating labour relations in dock work. This agreement was concluded in April 2022 between the employers’ organization, the National Association of Cargo-handling Enterprises and Shipping Agents (ANESCO), representing enterprises in the sector, and by the Trade Union Confederation of Workers’ Commissions (CCOO) and the General Union of Workers (UGT), which had previously expressed concern regarding the potential impact of the new system on the employment of dockworkers and on the application of the Convention, and the State Coordination Office for Seafarers (CETM). The Government emphasizes that the preamble to the Agreement recalls that: “Considering the essentially irregular nature of dock work, it is necessary, in accordance with ILO Convention No. 137, to ensure the stability and quality of employment, which is not only the essential objective of the collective agreement, but also of the new regulatory framework as, in accordance with the suggestion of the Court of Justice, the legislator attributes to port employment centres the function of ‘stabilizing’ and improving the quality of dock work (through training).”

The Committee takes due note of the Government’s replies regarding the manner in which the system attempts to ensure permanent or regular employment for dockworkers (Article 2(1) of the Convention) and minimum periods of employment or a minimum income for casual dockworkers (Article 2(2)), the registration of dockworkers by port employment centres in occupational categories or groups under the sectoral agreement to allow their employment through a rotation system (Article 3), and the training of dockworkers (Article 6). Finally, the Committee notes the Government’s indication concerning the establishment of a national joint sectoral committee (CPSE) comprising the signatories to the sectoral agreement in order to ensure the cooperation of the social partners (Article 5).

Application of the Convention in practice. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in the document analysing developments in the liberalization of dock work in Spain in 2022, published by the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility in November 2023. The Committee notes that this is an annual report required under Royal Decree No. 9/2019 of 29 March 2019, amending Act No. 14/1994 governing temporary employment agencies, in order to adapt it to dock work. The Committee encourages the Government to continue providing detailed and updated information on the manner in which the Convention is applied, by supplying, for example, future annual analytical documents of the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility on dock work, and any extracts of reports or data on the number of dockworkers on the registers and on any fluctuations in this number.