IV Convention of theater actors and actresses: minimum wages and disciplinary regime

The Official Gazette of the Generalitat de Catalunya publishes this September 29 the Resolution EMT/3377/2026, of September 9, which orders the registration and publication of the IV Collective Labor Agreement for the theater actors and actresses sector of Catalonia. The text, with agreement code 79002205012004, was signed on July 16, 2026, and amended on September 3, and establishes the labor, salary, and disciplinary conditions for the entire Catalan performing arts sector. The resolution is signed by Núria Gilgado Barbadilla, Director General of Labor Relations, Self-Employment, and Occupational Health and Safety.

The agreement is published in DOGC no. 9760, within section I (Other provisions) of the Department of Enterprise and Labor, with the reference CVE-DOGC-A-26264047-2026, following its registration in the Registry of Collective Labor Agreements and Accords of the Directorate General of Labor Relations and Quality at Work. Its validity extends from September 1, 2026, to December 31, 2028, with an annual tacit extension and indefinite ultra-activity, and the economic clauses are automatically updated every January 1 according to the national CPI.

The articles are organized into ten chapters and 30 articles and create a Joint Parity Commission with four representatives from each party, quarterly meetings, and resolutions by unanimity, with deadlines of seven days for ordinary matters and seventy-two hours for extraordinary ones. The commission must be constituted three months after the signing of the agreement.

Eight signing organizations and the entire performing arts sector

The text has been signed, on the employer side, by the Association of Professional Theater Companies of Catalonia (CIATRE), the Association of Theater Companies of Catalonia (ADETCA), the Professional Association of Theater for All Audiences (TTP), and Public Theaters of Barcelona; and on the social side, by the Association of Acting and Directing Professionals of Catalonia (AADPC), the Citizenship Services Federation of CCOO of Catalonia (FSC-CCOO), and the Services, Mobility, and Consumption Federation of UGT Catalonia (FeSMC-UGT).

The functional scope covers all actors and actresses and all companies, public or private, that carry out theatrical activity; the territorial scope covers all contracts formalized in Catalonia. The professional classification is organized into four groups:

• Group I: lead actor or actress.
• Group II: supporting role.
• Group III: ensemble.
• Group IV: brief interventions.

Minimum wages, working day, and per diems

The 2026 salary tables set, for Group A (public theater and large productions), a monthly rehearsal salary of 2,004.61 euros and, for performances, 4,371.78 euros for the lead, 3,142.23 for supporting roles, 2,506.37 for the ensemble, and 1,590.60 for brief interventions. For Group B, rehearsals are set at 1,598.36 euros and performances between 1,630.33 and 1,590.60 euros.

• Pay per gig for Group A: 251.45 euros (lead), 201.18 (supporting), 146.63 (ensemble), and 100.57 (brief intervention).
• Overtime: 12.23 euros/hour during rehearsals and 12.21 euros/hour during performances.
• Per diems: 22.88 euros (half per diem), 45.78 (per diem), 137.36 (full per diem with overnight stay), and 114.47 (dinner and accommodation); 0.37 euros per kilometer for own vehicle.
• Working day: 40 hours per week during rehearsals, a maximum of 8 performances per week, one and a half days of paid rest, and 30 calendar days of vacation.

Large-format musical theater productions, with a budget equal to or greater than 500,000 euros, have their own chapter and tables, with 4,808.96 euros monthly for the lead role.

Equality, harassment, and minors

Chapter IX requires companies with fifty or more employees to develop an equality plan and maintain a salary register disaggregated by gender; if the average remuneration of one gender exceeds that of the other by 25% or more, it must be justified. Measures for the equality of LGBTIQ+ people provided for in Royal Decree 1026/2024 are also incorporated, with an attention commission that must meet within three working days and resolve the case within fifteen days.

The parties adhere to the guide protocol for addressing sexist and LGBTIQ+-phobic violence in the performing arts. Regarding minors, the employment of persons under sixteen years of age is prohibited, except by exceptional authorization from the labor authority, with working hour limits by age and a prohibition on night work and overtime.

Disciplinary regime and intellectual property

The disciplinary regime grades offenses as minor, serious, and very serious. Sanctions range from verbal or written warnings to suspension from employment and pay for one to ten days (serious) and from ten to thirty days or dismissal (very serious), with mandatory dismissal for unjustified absence from a performance. Minor offenses expire in ten days, serious ones in twenty, and very serious ones in sixty days.

Regarding intellectual property, the recording of a performance requires express written consent, with an additional 6% over the agreed amount, a commercial assignment limited to three years, and payment within thirty days. The text expressly prohibits the assignment of the image or voice of performers to train artificial intelligence programs.

The new framework provides coverage for the entire Catalan performing arts sector with unified minimum wages, working hours, equality, and discipline, and introduces limits on the use of performers’ image and voice in artificial intelligence projects. For actors and actresses, the publication in the DOGC marks the entry into force of the text and the start of the countdown to establish the Joint Parity Commission.

Source: Official Gazette of the Generalitat de Catalunya, no. 9760, September 29, 2026, section I (Other provisions), pp. 1-46 (official reference: CVE-DOGC-A-26264047-2026).