The general secretaries of the UGT and CCOO, Pepe Álvarez and Unai Sordo, consider that the negotiations to reduce working hours are exhausted with the employers’ association CEOE and have urged the government to give legal form to this measure, reports EFE.
In statements to the media this Tuesday at the Madrid Atocha station where they went to disseminate information about the mobilizations this Thursday, Álvarez stressed that “there is no progress“with the employers, whom they are meeting again this afternoon, summoned by the Ministry of Labor.
“Negotiations with the CEOE (…) are currently exhausted“, stressed the leader of the UGT, who called on citizens to demand this reduction to 37.5 hours per week before the political groups.
“The CEOE has come to the conclusion that this measure does not have a majority in Parliament and, therefore, has no interest in negotiating“, said Álvarez, who ruined possible contacts between the employers’ association and Junts to block this measure included in the PSOE-Sumar Government agreement.
Sordo also criticized the CEOE’s blocking attitude and acknowledged that he did not expect much from this afternoon’s meeting. The government, said the CCOO leader, must begin to prepare the starting point for the negotiation and think about “how to translate it into a bill.”
Concentrations in provincial capitals
The two unions, which have called rallies in different cities this Thursday, defend the need to reduce working hours and will begin a series of meetings with political parties to express their views on this change.
The Ministry of Labor is again bringing together employers and unions around a negotiating table this afternoon, where it tabled a series of proposals two weeks ago, including hiring bonuses for SMEs, in an attempt to add the CEOE to the agreement.
