Archive:Public employment - Spain

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<Introduction: simple language, not too long, kind of executive summary>

Regional and administrative organisation

Introduction

Spain, the capital of which is Madrid, is a parliamentary monarchy and the division of powers is set out in the 1978 Spanish Constitution. It has a surface area of 505,990 km2 and a population of around 46 million inhabitants. It has been a member of the EU since 1986 and is a member of the United Nations, NATO and other international organizations as well as a signatory of the Kyoto Protocol.

System of government

The Constitution lays down the bases of democratic co-existence based on the principles of freedom, justice, equality and political pluralism.

The king, symbolizes the historical continuity of Spain and is a unit factor for all Spanish people. He acts as Head of State and as such, arbitrates and moderates the regular operation of the institutions and assumes the highest representation of the Spanish state in international relations.

The General Courts have Legislative Power, and as such, exercise the functions of legislating and controlling the actions of the Government, whereby they are made up of two Chambers elected for a period of 4 years by means of popular vote: the Congress of the Deputies (Congreso de los Diputados) (350 members) and the Senate (Senado) (264 members); the latter is the Chamber of territorial representation.

The Government represents the executive power, and as such, manages national and foreign policy, civil and military administration and national defence. It is led by a President, who has a vote of confidence from the General Courts, and the Ministers appointed by the President. The associated government body is the Council of Ministers.

The General Council of the Judiciary Power is the governing body of the Judiciary Power, which exercises its functions with full autonomy from the Government. Its main objective is to ensure the independence of the Judges and Magistrates in the exercise of jurisdictional duties.

Regional Organization

Spain is organised into three levels of autonomy: State Administration, Autonomous Communities and the Autonomous Cities of Ceuta and Melilla, and Provinces and Municipalities making up the Local Administration. Spain is currently organised territorially into 17 Autonomous Communities, 2 Autonomous Cities, 50 Provinces and 8,111 Municipalities. They are governed by the following Institutions:

A. Autonomous Communities:

• A Legislative Assembly, elected by popular vote by means of a system of proportional representation.

• A President of the Community, elected by the Assembly from among its members and appointed by the King. He/she is responsible for the management of the Government Council, the supreme representation of the respective community and ordinary representation of the state in the Council.

• The Government Council, which is presided over by the President of the Community, performs executive and administrative functions and is politically accountable to the Community Assembly.

B. Local Administration is made up of Provinces and Municipalities:

• Provinces. Their governing institution is the Provincial Council, comprising of a President and Members who are elected by the City Councils and their duty is to ensure cooperation of the municipalities. There are no Councils in the autonomous communities with a single province.

• Municipalities. Their governing institution is the City Council comprising of the Mayor and Councillors. The latter are directly elected by popular vote and secret ballot. The Councillors in the Municipal Plenary elect the Mayor by absolute majority. If a majority is not obtained, the leader of the most voted list is proclaimed Mayor.

Public Administration

Public administration is defined in the Constitution as a democratic country and representative of a politically and administratively decentralized State. Therefore, there are a range of Public Administrations in Spain, each with their own legal status and autonomy to manage their own affairs and competences.

The Autonomous Communities assume the competences defined in their own Statutes of Autonomy, which are the basic institutional regulation in the Autonomous Community, applying the distribution of powers between the state and the communities as set out in the Constitution, which differentiates between three types of competences:

• Exclusive competences of the State.

• Exclusive competences of the Autonomous Communities.

• Competences that may be shared between the State and the Autonomous Communities.

The State reserves the power to draw up basic regulations that ensure the equality of all Spanish citizens throughout the state and cohesion between all regions.

Public Employment Structure

Legal Basis: The main regulations on public employment are: Civil Servants Act (CSA), Employment Relationships Act, Wage System Act. The CSA represents the most important legal ground for the civil servants system in Slovenia. It regulates the common principles and other common issues related to the civil servants system; governs the civil servants’ system, establishes human resource management, the annual interview, performance assessment and training and education programmes for civil servants. The first part of the CSA which regulates the common principles, is valid for all civil servants in Public Sector, the second part of CSA is, on the other hand, valid only for the civil servants in the state bodies and in local administration. According to the Constitution of Republic of Slovenia, employment in the state administration is possible only on the basis of open competition, except in cases provided by law. The system, among other principles, contains the principle of equal accessibility to ensure equal access to any work post for interested candidates under the same conditions. The chosen candidat has to have the best competences.

The Slovenian public administration respects the principles of legality and legal safety, political neutrality and professional independence, openness and user orientation, expertise and quality, compatibility, rationality and efficiency.

Public Employment Managing Body: The Ministry for Public Administration is responsible for the centralized management of all policies related to Central Public Administration. The Ministry of Public Administration performs tasks in the following areas: the organisation of public administration and staff; the public sector salaries system; e-government and administrative processes; investments, real estate and joint state administration services; and the coordination and guidance of local administrative units. Special attention is devoted in all the above areas to: strategic development, analysis and quality in public administration, public relations and the promotion of new solutions, and international relations.

Rights, Obligations, Principles And Values

The Civil Servants Act defines the principles, values, rights and obligations of public employees which include: principle of equal access, legality, professionalism, honourable conduct, non-acceptance of gifts, confidentiality, responsibility for results, diligence in the performance and protection of professional interests. In the year 2001 The Government of Republic of Slovenia accepted Code of conduct for civil servants, valid for the public officials and high ranking civil servants as well. Besides this Code of conduct there are also the Codes of conduct for the particular professions and fields of work (Code of conduct for nurses). CSA also provides the legal foundation for the Decree on the limitations and duties imposed upon public servants with respect to receiving gifts, adopted in 2003. CSA in Article 100 defines activities and work that is not compatible with the work of civil servants and public officials and also defines the sanctions for breaking this rules. The article 100 CSA defines that officials may not perform other activities, if the activity violates the prohibition of competition or the competition clause pursuant to the law governing employment; if the performance of activity might affect the impartiality of the performance of work; if the performance of activity might result in the abuse of data accessible at the performance of the tasks at work, that are not accessible to the public and if the performance of activity is harmful to the reputation of the body. The restrictions under this Article shall not apply to activities relating to scientific and educational work, work in associations and organisations in the field of culture, art, sport, humanitarian activities and other similar associations and organisations, work in the area of journalism, and to membership and activities in political parties.

Officials holding the positions of director-general, secretary-general, the principal of Body within Ministry, the principal of a Government Office, the principal of Administrative Unit and the director of municipal administration (municipal secretary), may not perform any profitable activities with the exception of activities in the field of science, research, education, art, journalism and culture. Legal entities in which officials under the preceding paragraph, or their spouses, their lineal relatives or their collateral relatives three times removed, hold a share exceeding 20 per cent, may not enter business relations with bodies in which officials work. Contracts concluded contrary to the provision of this Article shall be null and void.

The working week for Slovenian civil servants is 40 hours. Paid annual holidays are minimum of 4 weeks. Maternity leave is one year. There is also special leave for parents with children between the ages of 3 and 6, to reduce their working day to between 4 and 7 hours instead of the normal 8 hours.

Career-Based System - Training

Horizontal and vertical career development is possible (promotion without changing position or with changing position), but. at least 3 years should elapse between each promotion.

Training of civil servants revolves around the Administration Academy, which is part of the Ministry for Public Administration, created in 1997. This educational body is responsible for organising courses related to the training of civil servants. Courses in administrative procedures, health and safety, trainings for officials and trainings for Top Menagers are the most important In 2007, the Training Programme for Top Management was redesigned (compulsory 6-day programme) and new Training Programmes for Inspectors and Middle Management were introduced. They are all offered by the Administration Academy.

Remuneration

The Public Sector Wage System Act regulates the stipulation, calculation and payments of salaries and the amount of funds assigned to them. It also defines the procedure for altering the ratios between the wage groups and wage sub-groups in the public sector. In short, the Act sets out the common basis for the public sector wage system, such as the principle of equal pay for positions with comparable functions and rights and the transparency of the wage system and wage incentives.

Positions are evaluated using a common methodology according to the following criteria: level of difficulty of the tasks or entry requirements to the position; level of skills required (professional qualifications, additional skills and experience); competencies and responsibility of the position; physical and mental exertions related to the position; environmental impact of the position.

Following this criteria, each position is classified into one of 65 salary categories, which determines the basic salary. In addition to the basic salary, there are performancerelated bonuses (2 months of the basic salary annually + additional bonus for extra workload agreed between civil servant and superior that shall not exceed 50% of civil servant’s basic salary). On the other hand, the aforementioned Act reduced salary bonuses from 80 to 8 (position, seniority, mentorship, specialisation and academic qualifications, a bonus for bilinguality, disadvantageous working conditions, dangers and special burdens, overtime and night service).

Social Dialogue And System Of Representation

Social dialogue is centralised and negotiations affect all public employees. Collective bargaining is formal and on-going (between 2 and 4 negotiations a year). The Administration is represented by the Governmental Negotiation Group, made up of representatives of all the Ministries, Agencies, some Government Offices and the Association of Municipalities. Employees are represented by many organizations in national negotiations, which normally represent the different branches of the public sector. At times, there is a great deal of diversity within the same branch (there are 6 different trade unions in the healthcare sector). The average unionisation rate is 50%.

Issues dealt with in the social dialogue are essentially the following: working conditions, labour market, modernisation of the social security system, training, reform of the civil service, quality management and public sector wage system. The outcome is not only a collective agreement, but also a proposal. The results of these negotiations are legally binding although there is the possibility of engaging in collective conflict, including the right to strike (although with prior conflict resolution mechanisms and an obligation to provide minimum services). The Economic and Social Council of the Republic of Slovenia (ESC) was established in 1994 as a highest-level body representing the social partners in the country. It was founded by the social partners – employers’ organisations and trade unions – and the Government of the Republic of Slovenia. The ESC usually meets in plenary session, with meetings held either at the request of one of the groups of social partners or at least once a month.

Senior Civil Servants

There is no formally defined SCS status in Slovenia, but there are some special conditions for the SCS group. (Summary Table)

Senior Civil Servants – 2nd Level - are selected through open, public competition. The main role in this procedure has an independent body – the COUNCIL OF OFFICIALS, which has 12 members who are elected or appointed for a term of six years. The Council of officials, determines the requirements to be fulfilled by candidates to a SCS position. On completion of the tests and evaluations carried out by a Competition Commission, those directly responsible for the management position (Prime Minister, Minister and Secretary-General of the Government) make the final selection from a shortlist of candidates, made by Official Council. The Government takes the final appointment decision and senior managers are appointed for a period of 5 years. Their assessment (annual) and management are the responsibility of the immediate superior. There is the possibility of horizontal career development (change of position, but the whole selection procedure must be performed).

Recent Reforms and Prospects

In the year 2009 the Program of reducing administrative barriers by 25% by 2012 and better regulation was adopted.

Among the anti-crisis measures in the public sector there is a plan of the reduction of the number of employees by 1% per year. Besides this a program of several organisation measures and restriction in the HRM was adopted.

Publications

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Main tables

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Database

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