Free hiring of dockworkers in Spanish ports after a European court ruling

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1. Hiring dockworkers becomes free. Companies are no longer required to hold shares in a dockworkers' company or to give priority to its workers, but they must guarantee the professional qualifications of the people they hire.
2. Cargo handling tasks can only be performed by workers with certain vocational training degrees or a professional certificate. Exceptions include workers who prove more than 100 previous workdays in this service in any European Union country, and ship personnel performing these tasks on board.
3. Port employment centers may be created. They work like temporary work agencies specific to the sector: they employ dockworkers, train them, and temporarily assign them to companies. They need the authorization required for temporary work agencies.
4. A three-year transition period is set, during which the dockworkers' companies (SAGEPSAGEP Sociedad Anónima de Gestión de Estibadores Portuarios: a company that manages dockworkers and makes them available to port companies.) may continue to exist. Companies in the sector, except those under self-service arrangements, must cover 75% of their activity with SAGEP workers in the first year, 50% in the second, and 25% in the third.
5. The Port Authority assumes the compensation for terminating dockworkers' contracts that were in force before December 11, 2014, except for workers reaching retirement age in the following three years. SAGEP shareholders must decide within the first six months whether to stay or leave.
6. Collective agreements must adapt to the new rule within one year at most; otherwise, clauses restricting hiring freedom or limiting competition become null and void. Workers suffering a substantial harm may terminate their contract with compensation.

Who it affects

• Companies providing port cargo handling services: They can hire freely, but must meet the percentages of SAGEP staff use during the transition period and require the proper qualifications.
• Dockworkers with a current contract at a SAGEP: They keep their labor regime during the transition period and are entitled to compensation if their contract ends.
• Dockworkers' management companies (SAGEP): They may survive for three years and then continue as temporary work agencies or be dissolved.
• Port employment centers and temporary work agencies: They may create port employment centers with the required authorization.
• Port Authorities: They assume the compensation for terminating dockworkers' contracts predating the court ruling.

Words worth knowing

Estiba

The work of loading, unloading, and stowing cargo on ships.

SAGEP

Sociedad Anónima de Gestión de Estibadores Portuarios: a company that manages dockworkers and makes them available to port companies.

Empresa de trabajo temporal

Temporary work agency: a company that hires workers and assigns them temporarily to other companies that need them.

Autoprestación

Self-service arrangement: a company provides the port service to itself with its own staff, without hiring third parties.

Real decreto-ley

Royal decree-law: a rule with the force of law that the Government can pass on an urgent basis, in this case to comply with a European court ruling.

It summarizes the law as published in the BOE. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries