Labor will “polish” the final details of the reduction in working hours only with the unions and calls the employers’ rejection a “mockery”
The Government will negotiate the latest details of the reduction of the working day to 37.5 hours per week only with the unions. After weeks of disagreements between the Ministry of Labour and the employers’ association, the department headed by Yolanda Díaz has given up on trying to bring positions closer together and will continue to move forward alone with the unions, who have supported its proposal, pending “polishing” technical details, so they hope that the final text will be ready “as soon as possible”. The Ministry of Labour regrets that CEOE and Cepyme have not put any “concrete” alternative to the Executive’s approach on the table and considers their attitude a “mockery”.
Díaz’s department issued an ultimatum to business organizations last week: it gave them seven days to present “in writing” a specific proposal on reducing working hours or, otherwise, it would negotiate only with the unions. Once the deadline has expired, the positions have not moved. “The position of the employers has left much to be desired, it has been clearly disappointing. Not only has there been no proposal, but there has been a clear questioning of the objective of reducing the legal working day to 37.5 hours,” said the Secretary of State for Labor, Joaquín Pérez Rey, at the end of the weekly meeting of the Social Dialogue Table held this Monday with CEOE, Cepyme, CCOO and UGT.
Pérez Rey has described as a “mockery” the fact that business organizations have flatly rejected the Government’s commitment to reduce the working day, a point that is part of the government agreement signed between PSOE and Sumar. “The problem is not that it is a mockery of the Social Dialogue Table after so many efforts, but that It is also a democratic mockery. Does CEOE mean that the Government has to fail to fulfill the commitment made to the citizens?” said the Secretary of State, who ruled that the employers’ refusal “is in no case admissible” and responds to “ideological burdens.” .
“We will continue to move forward with the help of the trade union organisations to polish a text that can be sent to the Cortes Generales as soon as possible,” announced Pérez Rey, who said that the “fine workmanship” remains to be finished. “The trade union organisations have stated that in the text There are still elements to polish, especially technical ones. and we want to continue with them,” he reiterated, without setting a specific deadline to end the negotiation. “Whether the next meeting will be the last will depend on how we move forward with the union organizations and whether the employers’ association does not move its position at all. “, he simply said.
The Secretary of State has clarified that CEOE and Cepyme will continue to be invited to the next meetings weekly, even if they have no intention of negotiating with them if they continue to reject it. “Whether they come or not is up to them. I think they should be there and should reflect on their attitude,” he said, criticising the employers’ association for presenting the debate on the reduction of the working day as “an apocalyptic issue” that will “destroy” everything and reminding them that the reduction to 37.5 hours is being negotiated in a context of technological change.
The UGT and CCOO unions have shown themselves in favor of a tripartite agreement to carry out the reduction of working hours and have called on the employers “to make it concrete, to join in good faith in negotiating a measure that is good for companies and for working people”. The vice-secretary general of Union Policy of UGT, Fernando Luján, has regretted that the social dialogue is heading “towards a failed negotiation”, although he has said that it is about “a need” that has to move forward this month “with the agreement of the employers or without agreement”Raúl Olmos, from CCOO, agreed that he was “in favour of a tripartite agreement” for which they will work “until the last moment”, but he acknowledged that it does not seem that “it will be possible” taking into account the maximum positions of the employers’ association.
The text that comes out of the Social Dialogue Table will then have to be approved by the Council of Ministers, which will then send it to Congress to process it as a bill. Pérez Rey has announced the Government’s willingness to advance this process “as quickly as possible”, although he has denied that he has already begun negotiating with the political parties, given that there is still no closed text. “Once we have it, I expect the support of all forces parliamentary. It is a common sense measure,” said the Secretary of State.
The Labor proposal to meet the goal agreed in the government agreement between PSOE and Sumar includes a first reduction in the maximum working day to 38.5 hours in 2024, before moving to the 37.5 hours promised in 2025, in both cases without salary reduction. This roadmap does not contemplate that the change can be compensated with an increase in overtime. “There is no room for measures that constitute fraud, that reduce the working day without reducing it.. “This is a serious negotiation,” Pérez Rey insisted this Monday, adding that it is not an “elitist measure,” but rather one that seeks to benefit “each and every one of the working people.”
Furthermore, the reduction in working hours will be accompanied by a reform of the time record to ensure that companies comply with established legal limits. In this sense, Labor proposes a fine of up to 10,000 euros per worker for companies that fail to comply with time registration and reduction of working hours. This not only means toughen current sanctionsbut also includes the new feature that an infringement can be filed for each worker with whom the company fails to comply with the rule.
