Interconfederal Service of Mediation and Arbitration

Identification

The Interconfederal Service of Mediation and Arbitration (SIMA) is a collective bargaining foundation made up of the most representative Trade-Union and Employers' Organisations. It is answerable to the Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs, owing to which its resources are public and its operations free of charge.

Purposes

The essential purpose of the SIMA Foundation is the alternative resolution of collective labour disputes arising between employers and workers or their respective representative organisations by means of the procedures of mediation and arbitration.

Types of conflict and the necessary legitimation for carrying out the procedures

Those collective labour disputes liable to be subjected to procedures of mediation and arbitration at the SIMA are:

1).- Those referring to the interpretation and application of a state regulation, any collective accord whatever its effectiveness, or of a company decision or practice. These procedures may be requested by those subjects that in accordance with legality are capable of promoting collective dispute action by jurisdictional means.

2).- Those leading to a stalemate in the negotiation of an accord or collective agreement. The parties participating in the corresponding negotiation may carry out the procedure.

3).- Those giving rise to the call for a strike when those calling it are legitimised to do so.

4).- Those disputes that arise concerning the determination of security and maintenance services in the case of a strike; procedures that may be set in motion by the strike committee or by the employer.

5).- Those deriving from discrepancies that have arisen during the consulting period required by "Estatuto de los Trabajadores" articles 40, 41, 47, and 51. The employer and the workers' representation participating in the corresponding consultations may request the initiation of the procedure.

6).- Those collective controversies arising within the Collective Bargaining Commission on the occasion of the application and interpretation of a Collective Agreement. This procedure must be requested jointly by a majority of both representations on the said Commission.

Adhesion to ASEC

The Agreement is applied in each of the sectors or companies from the time when the workers' representatives and the employers or their representative organisations, with sufficient legitimation in order to oblige in the corresponding field, sign any of the documents of ratification or adhesion anticipated in ASEC. The list of participating companies and sectors is available on the web page of the Foundation.

The scope of the dispute

If collective disputes are to be subjected to the procedures anticipated in ASEC, they must occur in one of the following fields:

a) A sector or subsector of activity that goes beyond the scope of an Autonomous Region.

b) A company, when the dispute affects several work centres located in various Autonomous Regions.

c) Companies or work centres located in an Autonomous Region when they are within the scope of application of a national sectorial Collective Agreement, and when the resolution of the dispute may have consequences for companies and work centres located in other Autonomous Regions. In any case this possibility must be expressly anticipated by the said Agreement.

Types of procedure

I.- MEDIATION. A unipersonal or voted body will actively try to resolve the differences that gave rise to the dispute. Once adhesion to ASEC has been signed, subjection to this type of procedure will be obligatory in the following cases:

- Before the bringing of collective dispute action.

- Before the call to strike.

- When this is requested by one of the parties in the dispute.

The SIMA will make standardised application models available to the interested parties.

Appointment of mediators. The mediators may be appointed by the parties or by the Service itself from among the names included on the list approved by the board of the Foundation. In any case they must have no connection with the specific dispute with which they are involved; direct personal or professional interests liable to alter or condition their mediating activity must not be present.

Duration of the procedure. Mediation will last ten days unless the parties decide to extend this period. If the procedure is carried out prior to the call to strike or for the determination of the security and maintenance sectors in the case of a strike, the period will be reduced to 72 hours.

II.- ARBITRATION . By means of this procedure, the parties agree to commission a third party and accept beforehand the solution pronounced by the latter regarding the dispute that has arisen. Prior subjection to a mediation procedure will not be necessary.

The appointment of one or several arbitrators (always an odd number) will be free and will fall to impartial experts. The former will be chosen from those included on the SIMA list of arbitrators.

The duration of this procedure will be that agreed on by the parties. If this is not the case, the arbitrator will issue a decision within no more than ten days.

Effectiveness of agreements and decisions

Any agreements that may have been reached by mediation or arbitration are generally effective regarding third parties provided that they fulfil the legitimation requirements anticipated by law.In the opposite case they will only have an effect between the parties directly represented by the trade unions, business organisations, or companies that have signed an agreement ending the mediation procedure or the corresponding arbitral commitment.

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