The Ministry of Labor and Social Economy led by Yolanda Díaz expanded its offer with slight adjustments to social agents during the meeting to reduce the working day to 37.5 hours in 2024 and 38.5 hours in 2025. The Ministry of Labor wants to attract employers by expanding the case where contracts generated by micro-SMEs (less than 10 employees) will see social contributions reduced: new permanent contracts previously unemployed and the conversion of part-time workers in full-time employees resulting from the reduction of the day, without defining the percentage of payments that would be subsidized. Labor is also opening the door to a change in the workplace accident penalty regime, with heavier fines.
Labor has transferred what it considers to be the general lines to legally reduce the length of the working day, a reform which has practically stagnated for ten months: reduction of working time, digital disconnection, recording of time to comply with the legislation on the reduction of working hours and a support plan for small businesses. Unions representing Mari Cruz Vicente (CCOO) and Fernando Luján (UGT) criticize the government for generating “false expectations” and They ensure that the negotiation remains at a standstill.
They placed emphasis on reforming the sanctions regime, which they consider “insufficient” in current practice. “For more serious offenses that endanger the life of the worker, there must be an aggravating circumstance, proportionate and sufficiently dissuasive,” explained Joaquín Pérez Rey, Díaz’s number two. The highest penalty is 7,500 euros, “even when overwork can lead to fatal health problems”, according to Labor. “It is necessary to overturn the sanctions regime,” he said.
The government added slight adjustments to the “SME 375 support plan”. With bonuses for the indefinite hiring of unemployed people and the conversion of part-time jobs into full-time jobs, he wants to stimulate the reduction of unemployment and “leave aside short-term and poor quality jobs” . The Network of Public Centers for Orientation, Entrepreneurship, Support and Innovation for Employment (COE Network), financed by European funds, will be used to advise and train SMEs.
He digital time recording This is one of the maxims that the government, supported by the unions, defends to control the effective reduction of working hours. Offers electronic recording, to which the Labor Inspectorate and social security have access “which allows verification and takes into account the singularities of certain particular employment relationships or certain sectors which require specific legislation”, as was previously envisaged.
A register of such complexity will require a modification of the Workers’ Statute and, above all, its own regulatory development. He has already convened a group of experts for this work. Joaquín Pérez Rey, Secretary of State for Employment, admits the possibility that the reduced hours arrive before the aforementioned development of the new electronic time record due to the tight deadlines managed by the Executive.
“We are not just going from 40 hours to 37.5 hours in the Workers’ Statute, because over the last four decades there have been many non-compliances. It must be a real change, with 37.5 hours recorded through an interoperable system, accessible to the Inspectorate, with the guarantee of digital disconnection and with SMEs accompanied by economic incentives, training and advice”, underlined the Secretary of State. Unions have stepped up their complaint about unpaid overtime.
