The workers of some of the largest distribution companies in Spain face a key negotiation for their salaries starting in 2027. Fetico, the majority union in the department store sector, has put on the table a salary increase of 16% over the next three years for the new agreement that will replace the currently valid one and that affects more than 240,000 employees.
Among the companies associated with ANGED, the employers' association with which the new labor framework must be negotiated, are large groups such as El Corte Inglés, Ikea, Alcampo, Carrefour, or Leroy Merlin. The current agreement is valid between 2023 and 2026, so the new conditions must be established for the period starting in 2027.
The proposal has generated anticipation due to the figure of 16%, but there is an important difference: it is not an approved increase nor an increment that will automatically appear in the payroll. It is the platform with which Fetico intends to approach collective bargaining. It remains for unions and companies to reach an agreement.
Who is asking for a salary increase of 16%
The proposal comes from the Independent Trade Union Confederation Fetico, which claims to concentrate 53.85% of the union representation in the sector and which, therefore, will start with a relevant weight at the negotiating table.
The salary proposal is divided into three periods:
6% in 2027, 5% in 2028, and another 5% in 2029.
Fetico presents these three increases as an improvement of 16% during the validity of the future agreement. If their proposal were applied to the reference professional salary used by the union, it would go from 17,802 euros annually to around 20,805 euros by the end of the period.
The figure, therefore, does not imply a sudden 16% increase in salary in January 2027. The increase would be spread over three years.
Not only salaries are being negotiated
The Fetico platform goes much further than payrolls. One of its main objectives is to reduce the working hours to 37.5 hours per week and 1,712 hours per year. Currently, the state agreement for department stores establishes a maximum working time of 1,770 hours per year.
The union also wants to raise vacation days to 32 days, guarantee at least one complete weekend of rest each month and limit the maximum number of consecutive working days to seven.
It also proposes to create up to 15 annual hours of paid leave to accompany minors under 15 years old or seniors over 70, a measure especially aimed at improving work-life balance.
Up to 1,000 euros in vacation allowance and 100 per holiday
The platform also includes new economic supplements.
Fetico demands a vacation allowance of up to 1,000 euros, a payment of 100 euros for voluntarily working on Sundays and holidays, a 50% increase in the remuneration for overtime hours, and a telework bonus of 90 euros.
It also proposes to create a pension plan with company contributions and add a non-consolidable extraordinary payment of 3%.
These amounts, like the salary increase, are part of the initial demands of the union. They are not rights already incorporated into the agreement.
CCOO also wants significant increases, but with another proposal
Fetico is not the only union that has begun to set its positions.
CCOO has proposed a salary increase of 7% only for 2027, followed by increases of 4% in the following years. Its declared priority is for the professional salary to exceed 20,000 euros annually during the validity of the new agreement.
The union argues that there is room to improve conditions because productivity per employee would have increased by more than 20% since 2019, while the average gross salary in the sector is around 20,400 euros and part-time work affects approximately 25% of workers.
CCOO agrees with Fetico in demanding a workday of 1,712 annual hours, equivalent to approximately 37.5 hours per week, but incorporates other demands, including 12 quality weekends a year and that working on holidays be voluntary.
What workers currently earn
The agreement that is still in force was signed in 2023 by ANGED, Fetico, CCOO, Valorian, and UGT and ends in 2026.
For this year, a fixed salary increase of 2% was approved effective from January 1, 2026. Subsequently, the joint committee also agreed to activate an extraordinary guarantee consisting of a 1% as a non-consolidable variable complement, which companies must pay during 2026.
The agreement of 2023-2026 represented one of the largest salary increases agreed upon in the sector up to that point, with an announced cumulative improvement of around 17% during its four years of validity.
Now the unions want the next agreement to again include significant increases, in a context where inflation is once again deteriorating the purchasing power of many workers.
The rise in inflation fully enters the negotiation
The negotiation also comes at a particularly sensitive moment for wages.
Inflation reached 4.3% year-on-year in August, while the average increase in wages collected in collective agreements was around 3%, which means that millions of workers are losing purchasing power.
This scenario will presumably have an important weight in the negotiation of the large stores. One of the issues will be to determine how far wage increases should go and what mechanisms should be included to protect salaries if prices rise again above expectations.
Would it automatically affect all employees of Carrefour or Ikea?
Here there is an important nuance. The state agreement establishes the framework for the large stores associated with ANGED, but some companies also have their own agreements or particular arrangements that regulate certain conditions.
For example, Grupo Supermercados Carrefour has its own collective agreement, which establishes a maximum working day of 1,776 hours for 2026 and a reduction to 1,770 hours for 2027 or, as applicable, the working day that results applicable according to the state sectoral agreement.
Therefore, although names like Carrefour, El Corte Inglés, Ikea, Alcampo, or Leroy Merlin appear associated with ANGED and are commonly used as a reference when talking about this negotiation, the specific application of each modification may depend on the company, the establishment, and the agreement that corresponds to each worker.
What is needed for the 16% increase to become a reality
The process is still in its initial phase.
Fetico, CCOO, and the rest of the union organizations must present their platforms, negotiate a position with ANGED, and close issues as relevant as wages, duration of the agreement, working hours, breaks, vacations, Sundays and holidays, reconciliation, and supplements.
The employers will also have to present their own proposals and respond to the union demands. The final figure may, therefore, be different from the 16% that Fetico has now put on the table.
Once an agreement is reached, the new agreement must be drafted, signed by the legitimized organizations, and subsequently processed for its registration and official publication.
For this reason, for the moment, the workers of El Corte Inglés, Ikea, and other large distribution companies do not have an approved increase of 16%. What exists is a specific request from the majority union: 6% in 2027, 5% in 2028, and 5% in 2029, accompanied by a reduction in working hours and improvements in vacations and work-life balance.
The battle now is at the negotiation table. And its outcome will depend on the working conditions of more than 240,000 workers in the sector over the next few years.