MadridScepticism This is what is being breathed in the Ministry of Labor with the fact that the Spanish employers’ association CEOE is moving the bill and joining the rule to reduce the working day in Spain. After the meeting this Monday between the ministry, the majority unions (CCOO and UGT) and the employers, things continue the same as last week: the team of Minister Yolanda Díaz plans to close a text on the reduction of the working day with the unions and without the support of the employer.
Sign up for the newsletter Economy Information that affects your pocket
Sign up for it
“The position of the employers’ association has been disappointing. Not only have they not made any proposal, but they have questioned the reduction of the working day”, lamented the Secretary of State for Labor, Joaquín Pérez Rey, in a press conference afterwards of this Monday’s meeting. On this occasion, the senior Labor official has raised the tone of the last few days: “It’s a mockery of social dialogue”, he said about the attitude of employers. “The tripartite agreement is far away”, assume from CCOO, who point out that the employers’ demands were “maximum”. “His postulates are not acceptable”, they reiterated from the UGT: “The reduction in working time must come out this month, with or without the agreement of the employer”, said the deputy secretary of trade union policy of the UGT, Fernando Luján
Last week, the Ministry of Labor already gave an ultimatum to the employers: either they moved and proposed improvements to the text proposed by the Spanish government or the reform will be transferred to the council of ministers and the Congress of Deputies without their approval. The government of Pedro Sánchez plans to reduce the working day to 38.5 hours in 2024 and 37.5 hours in 2025.
But the warning has not borne fruit and Pérez Rey himself has already pointed out that from now on the text will be “polished” hand in hand with the majority unions, with whom they will meet again next Monday. Looking ahead to next week, the Ministry of Labor has also called the employers’ union: “It must decide whether or not to attend the meeting”, said the Secretary of State. “Yes [la patronal] recapitulate, she will be welcome,” he added.
In the eyes of the Spanish government, the position of the CEOE employers’ association of not supporting a reduction in working hours is “rather weighed down by ideology than by the adequate representation they have to make of the companies they represent”. On the contrary, the businessmen consider that the approach of the executive can be a downgrade for the small and medium-sized company. According to a report by employers’ association Cepyme, the cost of a reform like this will be “11.8 billion euros”. From the employer’s office “they do not evaluate” this Monday’s negotiation and maintain that the social dialogue table is still open.
Negotiation with the parties
Given parliamentary fragmentation, however, the Spanish government’s problems in approving such a change may not end there. The executive will need, at the very least, the votes that allowed the investiture of Pedro Sánchez, and this implies the yes of parties like Junts or the PNB, which tend to be more aligned with the interests of employers. In fact, Foment del Treball, which has pushed hard against the reduction in working hours proposed by the Ministry of Labor, boasted some time ago that its meeting with Carles Puigdemont in Perpignan was already “bearing fruit” in the Congress of Deputies. Sources from the Catalan employers gave examples of how his “influence” in parties such as Puigdemont’s, but also in the PNB, had caused the Labor committee of the lower house to throw back the proposal that the unions be on the councils of administration
2024-07-01 18:27:22
#Labor #finalizes #agreement #reduction #working #day #employer
