CCOO and UGT have announced the calling of rallies on next November 3 in five Spanish cities (Madrid, Málaga, Sevilla, Valencia and Valladolid) after the breakdown of the negotiations of the state collective catering agreement, which reaches thousands of employees, as they have indicated in a statement.
In particular, the trade union organizations ended the dialogue on the collective catering agreement with Food Service España on last September 16, after the employers' association rejected the union proposals on wage matters and reduction of working hours, among other aspects.
Thus, the stagnation of the sector agreement, once the previous one expired on December 31, 2025, keeps the possible improvements in labor conditions frozen, in a context of rising cost of living.
In this scenario, CCOO has denounced that collective catering wages barely exceed the SMI, that working hours are irregular and that there are serious obstacles to reconciliation, to which very tight staffing levels and a growing workload are added that worsen the work environment and push many professionals to leave for other activities.
The collective catering sector brings together thousands of workers in charge of preparing, distributing and serving menus in hospitals, nursing homes, schools, secondary schools, universities, company dining halls, barracks, prisons and other services both public and private.
At the end of September, CCOO Servicios brought to Brussels the situation of blockage in the negotiation of Collective Catering in Spain. After months of waiting, the union criticizes that the employers' association has not even analyzed the union proposal. "We are not going to allow them to continue swelling the bonuses of managers at the expense of freezing wages, squeezing working hours and deteriorating the health of the staff who feed sick people and workers, the elderly and minors," they have denounced.
In the same vein, CCOO has reiterated that its demands are for decent wages that allow the recovery of lost purchasing power, working hours that facilitate personal and family reconciliation, the establishment of a sectoral minimum wage, the unblocking of the different pay levels, a work organization that reduces overwork and the recognition of the existing professional categories.
The union has also underlined that to the employers' blockade is added the "responsibility" of the Administration, which "prioritizes price over quality" in public tenders and which, together with the Deindexation Law, makes it difficult to review contracts and wage improvements.
"From CCOO Servicios we demand a change, because feeding is also caring and because without decent working conditions there are no quality services," the organization has said, which recalls that these demands are framed within the general strike day of November 11 in defense of labor rights.