In Spain, office lights often stay on late, not because of planned work, but because over time. What is surprising is that contrary to what one might imagine, it is not sectors like hospitality or commerce that are leading this trend, but rather financial activities and consulting.
Xaviel Galicia, representative of the CGT union at BBVA, explains it clearly: “If you just started and your boss tells you to stay, you quit everything”. With many years of experience in the financial sector, Xavier knows first-hand the problem of unpaid overtime. “I’ve been asked to ‘voluntarily’ extend my day more times than I can count,” he adds. In your sector, one employee in 14 ends up staying longer, without receiving additional compensation for it.
Although the hospitality sector also has high figures, with 300,000 unpaid overtime hours per week, the large number of employees in this sector means that, proportionally, only half are affected. “I work in the hotel industry, I work eight hours, but in the end it’s usually 14 hours”said a worker. Despite this, sectors such as education, energy supply and scientific research have a higher proportion of affected employees.
Luis Zarapuz, coordinator of the CCOO economic cabinet, points out that “although in the hotel industry they are lower than average in percentage, workers suffer more due to the harsh working conditions.” This phenomenon, far from being exceptional, This extends to many other sectors.
Meanwhile, unions denounce Businesses benefit greatly from this practicesaving billions a year in unpaid wages, despite company complaints about absenteeism.
