Iryo signs first collective agreement after two years of disputes
SPAIN: Spain’s second private high-speed operator has signed its first collective bargaining agreement, as Ouigo concluded its own deal in June 2024.
Iryo concluded the agreement with four trade unions on 8 April, covering 460 non-driving staff with retroactive effect from 1 January 2026 and pay commitments through 2028.
The deal closes more than two years of labour friction — including strikes in November and December 2025 — and means both private operators in Spain’s liberalised high-speed market now have collective bargaining agreements in place.
Pay and working time
The agreement sets a minimum pay increase of 4.7%, which can reach 25% depending on staff grade, and reduces the annual number of working days from 220 to 212. It also formalises arrangements for night work, meal allowances, overtime compensation and flexible scheduling.
The four signatory unions — ALFERRO, CCOO, SFF-CGT and SEMAF — backed the deal in full. Train drivers are excluded, as they are covered by a separate sector agreement.
The settlement follows a protracted negotiation that produced three partial agreements before the full deal was reached: on meal allowances and night bonuses in December 2024, on pay terms in December 2025, and on working time in March 2026.
Strikes preceded the deal
Staff wages had been frozen since Iryo began operations in 2022. When collective agreement talks stalled, unions escalated. Strikes ran from 25 to 28 November 2025, with further action planned for 5 to 8 December before a partial agreement with CGT suspended that round.
Further strikes over the Christmas period followed, before negotiations resumed and produced the March and April agreements.
Market now fully covered
Ouigo España, the SNCF subsidiary that is Iryo’s main competitor on Spain’s high-speed network, signed its own collective agreement in June 2024 — the first private high-speed operator in the market to do so. Ouigo began services in May 2021; Iryo followed in November 2022.
With both operators now covered, Spain is the only European market where two privately capitalised open-access passenger operators have each negotiated their own collective agreements.
Renfe, the state incumbent, operates under existing national rail agreements. The train drivers covered by Iryo’s separate sector agreement face a renewal round: that agreement expires at the end of 2026.