Colombia Issues Decree Regulating Collective Bargaining

Written on 03/11/2026
Josep Freixes
Colombia issued a decree regulating sectoral collective bargaining, in a move applauded by unions and questioned by employers. Credit: A.P. / Colombia One.

The Colombian government issued a decree introducing one of the most significant changes to labor regulation in recent decades: sectoral collective bargaining. The rule, signed by the Ministry of Labor through Decree 0234 of March 6, 2026, redefines the way unions and employers can negotiate working conditions by allowing agreements to go beyond a single company and cover entire branches of economic activity or business groups.

The measure has sparked intense debate in the country. For the government and labor federations, it represents a historic step forward that strengthens the right of association and increases workers’ bargaining power. For the business sector, however, the decree creates legal uncertainty and could alter the rules of the labor market without going through Congress.

The discussion reflects the traditional tensions of Colombia’s labor world: Expanding workers’ collective rights without affecting companies’ competitiveness, all of this with a Congress elected last Sunday and in the final stretch of Gustavo Petro’s presidency, on the eve of presidential elections.

Colombia issues decree regulating collective bargaining

Until now, collective bargaining in Colombia had mainly taken place within each company. Unions presented their lists of demands to a specific employer, and the result of the negotiation affected only the workers of that company. This system has historically been limited due to the country’s low level of unionization and the fragmentation of labor organizations.

The new decree changes that logic by allowing negotiations to take place at different levels. From now on, collective agreements may be reached by economic sector, by branch of activity, or even among groups of companies. In this way, unions will be able to negotiate working conditions that cover employees from several companies at the same time.

The rule also establishes that union representation at bargaining tables will depend on the number of members each organization has in the area where negotiations take place. This means that unions with larger membership bases will have greater weight in decisions and in the signing of collective agreements.

According to the government, the goal is to organize and expand the exercise of the right to collective bargaining so that working conditions do not depend solely on the ability to organize within each company.

A boost to union power

For the labor movement, sectoral bargaining represents a structural shift in the balance of power within the labor world. In countries with a stronger union tradition, such as several in Europe, this type of negotiation allows common standards to be established for entire sectors of the economy, reducing inequalities between companies and strengthening worker protections.

Colombian labor federations believe the new system could significantly expand the coverage of collective agreements. In a country where only a small proportion of workers are unionized, company-level bargaining had, until now, limited the real reach of labor contracts.

Under the new rule, a union with significant presence in an economic activity could negotiate wage increases or working conditions that apply to thousands of workers from different companies within that sector. According to supporters of the decree, this increases the bargaining power of the union movement and prevents companies from competing with one another by lowering wages or benefits.

Union leaders have welcomed the government’s decision, saying it expands spaces for dialogue between workers and employers and modernizes Colombia’s labor system. They also believe it could reduce labor conflicts by establishing common rules for entire sectors.

“The issuance of this decree expands workers’ options and strengthens unions at all levels,” said Fabio Arias, president of the Unitary Workers’ Union (CUT, by its acronym in Spanish), Colombia’s main union, in a video posted on the organization’s account on X.

The government’s arguments and criticisms from the business sector

The executive branch has defended the decree as a tool to strengthen social dialogue. The Ministry of Labor has said that multilevel bargaining could reduce labor conflicts and the costs associated with prolonged legal disputes between workers and companies.

The government argues that the measure does not replace negotiations within each company but rather complements them. According to this view, the different bargaining levels make it possible to address labor issues from a broader and more coordinated perspective.

In addition, the decree aims to bring order to a system that has historically been marked by union fragmentation. By establishing clear rules on union representativeness, the regulation seeks to ensure that agreements reflect the real weight of worker organizations within each economic sector.

However, the reaction from the business sector has been far more critical. Several business associations believe the decree introduces profound changes to labor relations without the legislative debate that would come with a law passed by Congress.

One of the most controversial points concerns the possibility that nonunionized workers may have to contribute financially to unions if they benefit from collective agreements. Some experts have noted that this measure could be interpreted as a kind of indirect or forced membership.

There are also concerns about the economic impact of sectoral bargaining. Employers fear that broad collective agreements could impose uniform labor conditions that fail to take into account differences in productivity or company size within the same sector.

Another frequent criticism is that the new system could increase unions’ bargaining power disproportionately, creating wage or regulatory pressures that affect competitiveness.

In this regard, Jaime Alberto Cabal, president of the Fenalco employers’ association, said that the decision was a “new blow by the government to companies and workers by attempting to approve by decree collective rights that Congress had already denied,” in relation to the noninclusion of this point in the labor reform approved by the legislature last year.

A debate that is only beginning in Colombia

The decree on sectoral collective bargaining marks a new chapter in the evolution of Colombia’s labor system. The rule responds to a longstanding demand from the labor movement and seeks to bring the country’s model closer to practices found in other economies.

However, its implementation raises important questions. The success of the new framework will depend on the ability of unions and employers to build mechanisms for dialogue that allow sectoral agreements to be negotiated without paralyzing economic activity, something that the main business associations have already warned about.

In any case, the decree has already reshaped the labor debate in Colombia. Beyond the opposing positions, the discussion reflects a profound shift: Collective bargaining is no longer exclusively an internal matter for each company but becomes an issue that can involve entire sectors of the economy.

This shift redefines the balance between capital and labor and opens a period of transformation in the labor relations of a country where labor and union rights have been quite limited, despite the rights guaranteed by the Constitution, and that have only been developed through laws and decrees such as the one now presented by the government.