Cantabria launches new hospitality agreement with wage increases until 2029

The Official Gazette of Cantabria (BOC no. 173, of September 8, 2026) publishes the Resolution ordering the registration and dissemination of the Collective Agreement for the Hospitality Sector of the Autonomous Community of Cantabria for the years 2026-2029 (official reference CVE-2026-6643). The text, signed on July 6, 2026, and corrected on August 3 and 14, regulates the labor conditions for bars, restaurants, hotels, and accommodations throughout the region.

The resolution, signed by the Director General of Labor, Social Economy, and Self-Employment, Jaime Gonzalo Alonso Rozadilla, is issued within the framework of the Ministry of Industry, Employment, Innovation, and Trade and is processed in accordance with Article 90 of the Recast Text of the Workers’ Statute Law and Royal Decree 713/2010 on the Registration and Deposit of Collective Agreements.

Signing Parties and Scope of Application

The agreement is signed, on the social side, by the FESMC of UGT and CCOO of Cantabria, and on the business side by the Association of Hospitality Entrepreneurs of Cantabria, who mutually recognize each other’s legitimacy and representativeness. Its territorial scope is limited to the Autonomous Community of Cantabria and its functional scope covers:

• Accommodations: hotels, hostels, residences, apartments with hospitality services, spas, shelters, boarding houses, motels, rural accommodations, and campsites.
• Catering: restaurants, catering, collective dining, fast food, pizzerias, burger shops, cafés, bars, coffee shops, breweries, ice cream parlors, and tea rooms.
• Leisure: dance halls, nightclubs, café-theaters, tablaos, casinos, bingos, billiard halls, recreational halls, cybercafés, and Type B gaming machine halls.

Validity, Working Hours, and Vacations

The agreement enters into full force on January 1, 2026, and ends on December 31, 2029, with an extension by tacit renewal until a new one enters into force. The maximum ordinary working day is set at 40 hours per week and 1,766 annual hours of effective work, while vacations are established at 32 calendar days for the entire duration, paid based on the actual salary and cannot be divided into more than two periods.

Salary Increases

Article 37 of the agreement sets the revaluation of the salary tables for each year of validity, with retroactive economic effects from January 1, 2026, for the increase of that fiscal year:

• 2026: 5%
• 2027: 4%
• 2028: 3.5%
• 2029: 3.5%

Companies may prorate the payment of arrears generated by the 2026 increase until December 31 of that year. Furthermore, a minimum difference of 2% between professional groups is guaranteed to avoid salary overlap when the SMI (Minimum Interprofessional Wage) affects several of them, and the decoupling clause of Article 82.3 of the Workers’ Statute is contemplated.

Joint Commission and Other Guarantees

A Joint Committee is created for the application and interpretation of the agreement, composed of 8 people: two from UGT, two from CCOO, and four from the Hospitality Association of Cantabria, which must meet at the request of any of the parties within a maximum period of 7 days. The text also incorporates prevention measures against harassment based on sexual orientation and identity, in line with Law 4/2023 and Royal Decree 1026/2024, and requires companies to prepare an annual census of permanent-seasonal staff.

The new framework, with registration code 39000605011982, affects thousands of workers and companies in a strategic sector for the Cantabrian economy, characterized by tourist seasonality. The retroactivity of the 2026 increase and the guarantee of more beneficial conditions make this agreement a key reference for regional collective bargaining in the coming years.

Source: Official Gazette of Cantabria, no. 173, September 8, 2026, section 7.3 (Statutes and Collective Agreements), page 44042 (official reference: CVE-2026-6643).