The CCOO and UGT unions have called for rallies in front of employers’ headquarters in all the provincial capitals of Spain to demand the reduction of the working day to 37.5 hours per week in 2025, on September 26. The unions share the negotiating table with the CEOE and Cepyme, the employers’ representatives, and have already expressed their discontent after the last meeting held this Monday, when the Ministry of Labor proposed some measures to soften the effect of the reform on companies.
The general secretary of CCOO, Unai Sordo, denounced in a video sent to the media that the negotiation to reduce the legal working day “is blocked” and has entered a “loop” from which the unions want to get out by acting on the street. The first stage of these mobilizations will be next September 26theven if they will first hold assemblies in all the autonomous communities.
“We are already distributing information, materials, brochures in workplaces, especially to those who would benefit most from the reduction of the legal working day. We are not going to abandon our efforts to ensure that the reduction of working hours that we have already brought to many collective agreements, to the Official State Gazette and to the Workers’ Statute,” Sordo stressed.
He Secretary of State for Employment, Joaquín Pérez Reybelieves that CEOE can join the agreement, while inviting them to position themselves. “We are in extra time, we do not have much left, this commitment must be sent to Parliament as soon as possible. I am convinced that we will have the agreement of the businessmen,” he insisted.
As he defended it, the ministry is “committed to the agreement”, since the reduction of the working day has not taken place in Spain “for 40 years”, which makes it an issue that will affect “a whole generation of Spaniards”, creating a policy for “the rest of the century”. It will send the project “soon” so that the social partners can evaluate the agreement and propose modifications.
“We have to reduce the working day for everyone. We have to reduce the working day to generate more jobs. We have to reduce the working day to distribute the profits that companies have accumulated in recent years. We have to do it through negotiation and now we too have to do it in the streets. On September 26, we will meet before the employers’ organizations,” concluded the CCOO leader.
The UGT stressed that nearly 13 million private sector workers would benefit from a reduction in the working day from the current 40-hour week to 37.5 hours, without a reduction in pay.
“The political parties, the parliamentary groups must know that the vast majority of citizens want to live better, want to reduce working hours and that this will also lead to an improvement in terms of economic efficiency and in terms of the vision of job creation,” said the secretary general of the UGT, Pepe Álvarez, in a video shared with the media. “That is why, on the 26th, you are all summoned to a mobilization process that we are going to carry out,” added Álvarez.
The unions insist that it is time to reduce the working day by law in Spain, since more than 40 years have passed since the 40-hour working day was introduced. For the UGT, it is a measure of “social justice”, which will contribute to the wealth generated by the country being distributed in a “more equitable” way. “It is proven that working fewer hours has a positive impact on physical and mental health”, argues the union.
In addition, Pepe Álvarez’s union assures that companies will benefit in terms of costs and continuity of work because “working fewer hours is important to achieve greater productivity.” “The reduction of working hours also has a direct impact on the country’s economy, as well as on the environment and the objective of progress in gender equality,” concludes the UGT.
