Collective agreements as a tool for achieving gender equality in the workplace. Case study: the chemical industry in Tarragona / Los convenios colectivos como herramienta para alcanzar la igualdad de género en el trabajo. Estudio de caso: la industria química en Tarragona

Abstract

Gender equality and collective bargaining are the key elements of the analysis presented in this paper. Collective agreements and collective bargaining are some of the tools to achieve the goal of equality between women and men at work. The incorporation of equality issues in bargaining debate is something relatively new, which is crucial to reach real labor equality. In Spain, since 2007, the collective agreements that include clauses on equality have grown exponentially. Nevertheless, the incorporation of contents on equality between women and men in collective agreements is slow and limited. Changes in legislation and the contents incorporated in the agreements do not stop being functional measures for a system based on the sexual division of labor that is not sufficiently criticized. In this paper we analyze the existing collective agreements of the Asociación Empresarial Química de Tarragona, in south Catalonia, that demonstrate these affirmations.

Keywords

• Collective bargaining
• gender equality
• work
• organizations