During a strike, setting minimum services for various matters depends on the autonomous communities. This transfer meant that during Wednesday's general strike, very different criteria were decreed when assigning them. The clearest example can be found in Rodalies, where in Catalonia minimum services were set at 25% during peak hours and that there would be no service during the rest of the day. This decision contrasted with the one taken at the state level, where Cercanías services in cities such as Madrid, Seville, or Valencia were set at 75% during peak hours and 50% for the rest of the day.

The Labor Inspectorate has opened a file on the Generalitat's Department of Culture to determine whether over the last few years they have had more than 200 interns performing structural, non-formative tasks. For their part, sources from the Department of Culture explained to the ACN that they have filed allegations and appeals to the proceeding and that they disagree with the agency's conclusions.

Montse Sánchez (l'Hospitalet de Llobregat, 1981) combines her leadership of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT, the third largest union in terms of membership in Catalonia) with her job at Seat, from which she is not released from work duties. The union is one of the main promoters of the general strike called for next November 11 throughout the State, and it participates in initiatives such as the Strike House (Casa de la Vaga), located at the central faculty of the University of Barcelona. Currently, the CGT is in a moment of great expansion. According to them, the increase in members is mainly due to their commitment to conflict.

The Labor Inspectorate has required delivery platforms Glovo, Amazon, and Uber Eats to submit the labor protocols followed by their delivery riders during episodes of adverse weather, such as heavy rain. The agency, which reports to the Generalitat, has opened an ex officio investigation against the three platforms, adding to a previous case opened against Uber Eats at the request of the Comissions Obreres union, which accuses the company of keeping riders on the street during a rain alert, as reported this Monday by Catalunya Ràdio.

The aging of the citizenry represents a major challenge for the country's labor market. Currently, according to data collected by the Generalitat's Labor and Productive Model Observatory, one in five employed people in Catalonia –which is equivalent to 825,600 workers– are 55 years old or older and, therefore, are expected to leave the labor market in the next ten years. In fact, the same organization's estimates indicate that, although there are currently 1.6 million people over 65 years of age, representing nearly 20% of the country's population, by 2045, it is estimated that the figure will rise to 2.4 million, which will be equivalent to nearly 30% of the total citizenry.

A strike on the "offensive". This is how the general secretary of Comissions Obreres de Catalunya, Belén López, defined the general strike scheduled for November 11th this Thursday, the first 24-hour strike in 14 years. "It is an opportunity for trade unionism to change its stride," assured the leader of the Principality's majority union in a meeting with journalists, adding that "the era of reaching agreements has ended, unfortunately."

The Spanish government guaranteed this Tuesday to the unions CSIF, CCOO and UGT that the salary of public employees will rise by 4.5% starting January 1, 2027, just as both parties agreed upon in the framework agreement they signed last November. This was communicated by the three unions after meeting with the Ministry of Digital Transformation and Public Function within the framework of the monitoring commission for this agreement, which provided for an overall salary increase for the more than three million public employees of 11% for the 2025-2028 period.

The major trade unions are calling for a minimum wage (SMI) increase of at least 7% by 2027, placing it above 1,300 euros per month. In a joint press conference held by the UGT and CCOO in Madrid, both organizations defended an increase that would update the threshold to at least 1,306 gross euros paid over 14 installments, or 1,524 euros over twelve. Currently, the state minimum wage is 1,221 gross euros in fourteen payments, which is equivalent to 1,424 euros in twelve monthly installments.

The Catalan pharmaceutical company Salvat announced this Wednesday the intention to concentrate all its production capacity at the factory it has in Alcalá de Henares, in Madrid. Conversely, this decision implies stopping production at the Esplugues de Llobregat plant. As reported by La Vanguardia and confirmed to ARA by union sources, the move will affect between 130 and 150 workers at the Catalan plant, who have for the moment been notified of a geographical mobility file. Currently, between 300 and 350 people work at the Salvat center in Esplugues de Llobregat.

In the last decade, paternity leave has been updated almost constantly. Until 2016, Social Security only covered 13 working days for fathers, extendable to 15. Since then, however, the coverage of the leave has been continuously expanded, first increasing to four weeks in 2017 and, a year later, to five. Furthermore, in 2019 it was approved to progressively equalize the leave for both parents in three phases: the fathers' leave increased that same year to 8 weeks, in 2020 it was extended to 12 and, finally, in 2021 it became comparable to that of mothers, which at that time was 16 weeks. Currently, birth leave is up to 19 paid weeks per parent.

"The Spanish banking sector had never earned so much money, and its staff have never been worse off." Comissions Obreres has announced an autumn of mobilizations in the banking sector across the State due to the "unbearable working climate" that staff are suffering amid a context of record profits. The pressure measure will arrive, therefore, a few months before the negotiation tables for the sector's next collective agreement are established, which are scheduled for the first quarter of next year. During a press conference held in Madrid this Thursday, CCOO requested that a salary improvement of 7% be studied for 2027, and 4% annually between 2028 and 2030. It also demanded that the next agreement establish a maximum of 1,600 annual working hours, which workers would achieve by gaining a long weekend each month.

The High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) held this Tuesday the oral hearing of the trial against the companies subcontracted by the technology multinational Meta to moderate Facebook or Instagram content from Barcelona. The union FISt (Independent and Trade Union Force of Workers) challenged the collective dismissal that in April 2025 affected more than 2,000 workers at the Barcelona workplace linked for years to Telus and CCC Barcelona and to the services provided for Meta. The defendant companies claim that Meta decided to terminate the contracts with them and the layoffs were agreed upon with the works council.

Small and medium-sized enterprises represent 99% of the European business fabric. And three out of four claim that they have difficulties finding workers with the specific skills they need. For Brussels, part of the problem is that, despite decades of integration, the European labor market remains fragmented by administrative borders.

"Today we are taking another step in the fight against job insecurity in our country." The Council of Ministers approved this Tuesday the transposition of a European regulation that will guarantee that workers have more "transparent" access to their working conditions. As the Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, has explained, the rule will allow for combating precariousness by guaranteeing "adequate and immediate" access to the essential characteristics of the employment relationship.

The cost per hour worked in Spain rose by 4.8% in the second quarter compared to the same period in 2025, a rate six tenths lower than the previous quarter, according to the provisional data of the Harmonized Labor Cost Index (ICLA) published this Tuesday by the National Statistics Institute (INE). With the rebound in the April-June 2026 period, labor costs have chained 20 quarters of year-on-year increases; that is, five consecutive years of increases.

"Artificial intelligence could be the greatest equalizer ever invented, or the worst source of inequality." Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates believes the potential impact of AI – benefits and pitfalls, in equal measure – is greatly underestimated. In a long essay published on his website, Gates Notes, the tech mogul and president of his namesake foundation has detailed the promises and dangers of a technology that, in his view, could dismantle the entire contemporary social structure. "The transition to the AI era will be one of the most turbulent periods in human history. And, as of now, we are not adequately prepared to face it," he asserts.

The salary gap between employers and workers in Catalonia has widened by 70% over the last four years, according to an analysis by the General Workers' Union (UGT) published this Wednesday. According to the data collected by the union – based on the survey of living conditions from the National Statistics Institute (INE) – employers in Catalonia earned an average of 36,301 net euros annually from their activity in 2025, while salaried employees received 24,108 euros annually during the same period. The difference of approximately 12,200 euros exceeds that recorded in 2021, when the average gap between the two groups was almost 7,200 euros.

The Volkswagen Group confirms its first major workforce reduction in Germany since its founding 89 years ago. After the automotive company announced its plans to reduce at least 100,000 jobs globally, all bad omens were confirmed this Tuesday, especially for the company's workers in the Germanic country. The company will dispense with approximately 50,000 employees in Germany, its main production center with a dozen plants and more than 250,000 workers.

During the last decade, the expected duration of women's working lives in Spain has increased by one year more than that of men. This progress has helped to reduce the existing gender gap, although they will still work on average 3.4 years less throughout their lives. Specifically, according to the latest data published by Eurostat, the expected duration of working life for those who started their careers in 2025 stands at 36.8 years on average in Spain: 38.5 years for men and 35.1 years for women. In 2016, the forecast was 35.1 years on average: 37.2 years for men and 32.8 years for women.

Employment in large companies and SMEs rose by 3.6% in the second quarter, and the pace of job creation accelerated slightly compared to the first quarter, according to data published by the Tax Agency. "Although it is impossible to determine with the aggregated information available, it is possible that part of the improvement is related to the regularization process of workers that began in April," the state agency pointed out. According to the report, the figure marks a rebound within the predominant trend throughout 2025, in which job creation stood at around 3%.