Food Pasta Industry Collective Agreement 2025-2026: What Changes and What Companies Must Do

Key data

Food pasta manufacturing companies have an immediate obligation: to adapt salaries and contracts to the conditions of the XII National Collective Agreement for the Food Pasta Industries 2025-2026. The General Labor Directorate registered and published it through Resolution of April 23, 2026 (BOE-A-2026-9505), but its validity begins on January 1, 2025.

This means that the obligations are retroactive. If a company has not applied the new salary tables since January 2025, it accumulates differences that workers can claim.

What does this regulation establish?

The XII National Collective Agreement regulates working conditions in the food pasta manufacturing sector at the national level for 2025 and 2026. Its main matters are:

• Salary tables: new compensation by professional category applicable from January 1, 2025.
• Working hours: working time conditions agreed for the validity period.
• Working conditions: rights and obligations of workers and companies in the sector.
• Labor contracts: companies must adapt their contracts to the conditions agreed in the collective agreement.

Publication in the BOE grants it general and binding effectiveness against third parties, which means that it is not necessary for the company to be associated with any employer organization to be obligated: the agreement applies automatically to all companies and workers included in its scope.

This agreement is the twelfth in the series for this sector, indicating a long history of sectoral collective bargaining. It replaces and updates the conditions of the previous agreement, although the available data does not include the specific salary tables or the percentage increases compared to the previous agreement.

Economic and operational impact

The main impact is on labor costs. Companies that have not applied the new salary tables since January 2025 must pay the accumulated differences during the entire period elapsed.

The specific operational effects are:

• Payroll review: each worker must be paid according to the salary table of the agreement according to their professional category from January 2025.
• Contract update: contracts that include conditions lower than those of the agreement must be modified, as the agreement prevails by law.
• Arrears management: if there are salary differences since January 2025, they must be settled. This can represent a significant cash impact depending on the number of employees and differences by category.
• Working hours adjustment: the working time conditions agreed in the agreement are mandatory, which may require adjustments in shift organization or rest periods.

Since the agreement is valid until the end of 2026, companies have a known horizon to plan their labor costs during this period.

Who does it affect?

The agreement is mandatory for:

• Food pasta manufacturing companies with activity at any point in Spanish territory.
• Workers employed in such companies, regardless of their professional category or type of contract.
• HR directors and personnel administration managers of these companies, who must ensure correct application of the agreement.
• Labor consultants and management firms providing services to companies in the sector, who must verify the adequacy of payrolls and contracts.

It does not affect distribution, import, or marketing companies of food pasta that do not carry out manufacturing activities.

Practical example

A food pasta manufacturing company with 15 workers that has not updated its salary tables since January 2025 faces the following situation:

If the agreement establishes salary increases compared to the previous agreement (data not available in the published resolution, which refers to the full text of the agreement), each worker would be entitled to receive the difference from January 1, 2025 until the date it is regularized. With 15 employees and 16 months of accumulated arrears until May 2026, even differences of €50 monthly per worker would amount to €12,000 in arrears to be paid at once.

Furthermore, if a worker files a claim with the SMAC or before the social courts, the company could also face legal and advisory costs. Preventive action—reviewing payrolls now and regularizing—is always less costly than reactive action.

What should companies do now?

1. Obtain the full text of the agreement: download the complete text from the BOE (BOE-A-2026-9505) to know the exact salary tables by category and the agreed working hours conditions.
2. Audit payrolls from January 2025: compare compensation paid since January 2025 with the agreement tables. Identify if there are differences by professional category.
3. Calculate and pay arrears: if salary differences exist, settle them in the next payroll or in an extraordinary payment. Document the process.
4. Update labor contracts: review that no contract includes conditions lower than those of the agreement. If so, modify them through an addendum or new contract.
5. Verify working hours conditions: check that the organization of working time (shifts, rest periods, overtime) complies with what was agreed in the agreement for 2025-2026.
6. Inform the HR department or labor advisory: ensure that whoever manages payrolls knows the new conditions and applies them correctly for the rest of 2026.