Principal facts
The applicants are Magdaleno Aizpurua Ortiz and 55 other Spanish nationals who live or used to live in the province of Vizcaya (Spain). They were employed by the company Sefanitro S.A. (“the company”) until they took early retirement, at which point they received a supplementary pension under the terms of a collective agreement concluded in 1983. Under the agreement, former staff members who had commenced employment with the company before 1984 received a supplementary annual pension up to the age of 65.
When the payments stopped in 1994 the applicants brought actions before the courts, which found in their favour.
The 1983 agreement was repealed by a new collective agreement which entered into force in 2000 and under the terms of which employees who had been in receipt of a supplementary pension were to be paid a one-off sum equivalent to three monthly payments.
The applicants applied to the employment tribunal, which found partly in their favour and ordered the company to pay the pensions claimed. Following an appeal by the company, the Supreme Court dismissed the applicants’ claims, noting in particular that, unless otherwise provided, the rights conferred by an earlier collective agreement could cease to apply if they were revised by a subsequent collective agreement.
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