The Ministry of Labor has opened the door to postponing the entry into force of the reduction in working hours by one year, in order to allow time for negotiations with social agents and for the parliamentary processing of the project. The Secretary of State for Labor, Joaquín Pérez Rey, stated, at the end of the social dialogue meeting on the reduction in working hours, that he had perceived “a change of tone” in the employers’ organizations, with a “more constructive” attitude, and he continues to trust in reaching a tripartite agreement in which CCOO, UGT, CEOE and Cepyme are involved.
The secretary of Trade Union Action and Employment of CCOO, Mari Cruz Vicente, indicated that the parliamentary treatment of the project will The reduction of the working day to 37.5 hours per week is already implemented by 2026whereas the previous section, The reduction from the current 40 hours to 38.5 hours will happen by 2025which would mean delaying the government’s plans by a year.
“No matter how much we hurry in the negotiation process, there is still a parliamentary procedure missing. Well, if we manage to get your honours to side with the citizens and vote in favour of the reduction, it will be a short procedure, but it will also be We may find ourselves in a different position and the procedure may take a little longer.” he acknowledged.
After a meeting of almost four hours, Pérez Rey explained that the Government defined in today’s meeting “with greater precision” the elements that are part of this negotiation: reducing the working day to 37.5 hours per week, regulating the right to digital disconnection, telematic time recording and a support plan for SMEs.
This plan, which envisages permanent employment bonuses generated by small and medium-sized enterprises The reduction in working hours was specified “more precisely” by the ministry, but Pérez Rey did not want to go into details “out of respect” for the negotiation.
“The employers’ organizations, the most reluctant to accept the reduction in working hours, have agreed to evaluate the proposal that we have sent them. I am not going to be very specific about this out of respect for the confidentiality of the negotiations,” insisted Pérez Rey.
However, despite the greater optimism of the Ministry of Labor, CEOE sources indicated to Europa Press that At the meeting on Tuesday, they once again opposed the legal reduction of the working day.. Likewise, these same sources assured that at the negotiating table “no approach from those put forward at the last meeting” was specified in writing.
For his part, the Secretary of State stressed that the reduction of working hours is “essential to improve the lives of workers” and also constitutes a debate that “transcends all ideologies.”This is why I welcome the PP into this debate.” said the Secretary of State for Labor.
Negotiations continue
The next meeting of the working time reduction table will take place on October 11as revealed by the representatives of the trade union organizations, who stressed that although no deadline has been set to end the negotiations, they cannot last “sine die”. “In the next meeting, there will have to be considerable progress so that we can think that there are possibilities of progress,” said Vicente.
However, both Vicente and the UGT’s deputy secretary general for trade union policy, Fernando Luján, indicated that They will fight to reach an agreement before the end of the year because they do not allow the reduction of working hours to remain “on the sidelines”, because “they sold it to us as the star of the legislator”.
For this reason, Luján asked the government to take a position on this measure, since negotiations have been going on for more than 9 months, although a tripartite agreement is desirable.
In this sense, they stressed that time recording and digital disconnection are other important issues within the framework of the measure, since more than 6 million weekly overtime hours continue to be generated, of which 2.6 million are neither paid nor appreciated, which represents a “theft” by companies of 3 billion euros in unlisted hours.
This is why the two union members have once again requested the commitment of the CEOE to reach an agreement that is beneficial for the labor market and for workers.
